Stand up, The Oracle
by Akusaka
Summary: On planet Earth. Special people wield the Psyqualia. An ability to use spiritual energy to achieve inhuman feats and almost godlike powers. And among them are the pioneers. Select Psyqualia users who can also summon beings from a planet at the far ends of the galaxy, Cray. The great war between the units of Cray has ended. But a new war on earth is about to begin.
1. Chapter 1- Itou Akusaka

*yawn..*

"Well, this is exhausting..."

I think I'm going to faint from just looking at the chalkboard, for god knows how many times I've seen it. I know the teacher is way more exhausted then I am due to the whole teaching thing, but man do my eyes just refuse to stay awake today.

My name is Itou Akasaka. I'm a first year student of Eitouku Gakuen, which is a fairly known private school in Tokyo. For a 16 year old high school student, I could say my looks are... decent. The one thing that's noticeable of me is my surprisingly natural, sort of spiky white hair. And yes, I had my fair share of names being called because of this. I think I'm the only high school student who was ever called 'Gramps'. For a blooming teenager who cares 5% in fashion, It's a real low blow.

Besides that, I'm also a man who is looking forward to a single 'school event'. And of course, SUMMER VACATION!

'I'm more tired? How can I be more tired when I'm thinking about good things?! Dear god, is the damn bell ever gonna ring?'

I sat straight and took a deep breath, trying my best to stay awake. I'm sure I had a good nights sleep last night. I even woke refreshed then ever, so why am I this tired?

*sigh..*

"What a lovely day~"

I turned my head to the right, and through the window the bright warm summer view of outside was like a beautiful painting, compared to the classroom that I'm stuck in right now. I so wanted to jump out the window and enjoy the life I'm given. But the fact that I can't survive a three story fall was like a curse to me.

God screwed up! He should have made people resilient to three story falls! ...and the ability to stay awake...

'I'm just making it worse... Sitting at the window side isn't helping at all..'

Final exams were coming up. If I want to have a relaxing vacation, I should be focusing in class, not dozing off.

As I tried my best to ignore the view and concentrate in class, 'That' activated on it's own. I gritted my teeth and sighed heavily.

"Oh great, what is it going to show me.."

"Uh... Itou, are you listening?.."

"Yeah..."

...Who did I just answer to right now?

"Buh?!"

The teacher who was just in front of the chalkboard, was now standing right next to me like a magical teleporting ninja. God, I didn't even hear her footsteps!

This magical teleporting ninja was Saya sensei, my homeroom teacher. Her smooth mint colored ponytail hair was long enough to fall down to her back. The neatly dressed black and brown dress suit highlighted her already beautiful features. She was undoubtedly our class idol. With her standing right next to me, smiling like a warm sun to an unworthy student like me was too much for me to handle.

"Sa, Saya sensei! Ho, How goo, I mean can I help you?"

I sat properly like a stone statue, and tried to speak to her properly while half of the words coming out of my mouth was gibberish.

"Umm.. I called you several times, but you weren't responding.. So i came to check.. I, I didn't disturb you did I?.."

"N, No! Not at all! Not at all!"

Oh god, I didn't hear a single thing that she said. My brain! I know you and I are not doing so well today, but please help me just this once! I promise I'll never let you get eaten in a zombie apocalypse!

When Saya sensei was starting to look at me funny, I saw the chalkboard which had bunch of math equations written on them. Seeing that the letters are still vivid, I was almost sure it was written just now.

'Freshly written equations! Saya sensei standing here! And it's math class! Put them all together, and that means!..'

"O, Oh! I should go solve that, right?"

"We, well yes.. But y, you can sit down if you don't want to.."

"Nononono! I'm more than happy to! Gotta get learning, am I right?"

Woohoo! Nailed it! Jeez, her coming out of nowhere really shook me up. So much that I'm genuinely wondering if she actually has some kind of teleporting abilities.

I stood up from my seat and started to walk towards the chalkboard. The sooner i write the answer the better.

"Um... Itou? Were you by any chance dozing off?"

I came to a sudden halt. She went right for the bullseye. I'm telling you, teachers are not to be taken lightly.

"Wha, what? That's not what i.."

"I, I'm so sorry.. I should have made my class more interesting.. I'm such a failure as a teacher.."

"Uh, sensei? I didn't say anything about the class being boring?'

Despite my explanation, Saya sensei's eyes started to turn red. Her elbows and her voice started to tremble, like at any moment she would burst into tears. I know Saya sensei is a timid person and she's not the type that lies to someone. But when there's trouble in class, she guilt trips herself like this EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!

She doesn't even blame or scolds the person who caused it! Oh no, she apologizes and then goes into self guilt mode in a millisecond! Nobody knows how much it hurts to make a saint like Saya sensei cry, when it's not even a big deal that started the whole thing.

'Oh god it hurts! It feels like my soul got kicked in the nuts!'

And just like history, when there's a sinner, there's always the torches and the pitchforks.

Despite me already regretting that i dozed off in class. Almost all of the male students sent hellfire like glares to me like they were going to start a riot that includes you guessed it, torches and pitchforks.

"Itou, you bastard! How dare you make Saya sensei cry!"

"Have you no heart, you fiend! An angel shedding a tear because of you!"

"The penalty is DEATH!"

"""AYE!"""

All the guys roared while rolling up their textbooks. And I do NOT want to know what they're planning to do with those.

"Don't AYE me! I'm already mentally damaged! I don't need physical damage on top of that!"

"""Well, too bad! That's our plan! Prepare yourself!"""

Normally, this is when Saya sensei comes in and calms this kind of situation. and she's pretty good at it despite her timid nature. But right now, she rolled herself into a ball while sitting in a corner and mumbling in a really depressing tone.

And that's really bad for me, because I have no idea how to stop these guys! If god made a mistake, it's goddamn teenage hormones! This is it! This is the end of Itou Akusaka, age 16!

"SHUT. IT."

The cold, strict tone spread through the classroom. With just two words, the guys fire like rage was put off immediately.

Class prez, who was sitting at the front row turned around facing the guys. Prez's silky silver hair brushed her beautiful figure like gentle waves. Seeing that made my heart skip a beat.

In a whole different reason.

"Do I have to point out, that we're still in the middle of class? And hearing you all shouting your lungs out is making others uncomfortable. Including, me."

"""U..Ugh...!"""

Her cold eyes pierced the guys and made them flinch like mice fronting a cat. They didn't answer back, and immediately sat on their seats with an awkward fidgeting smile, like Because they knew too well what would happen if they face her.

"That's better. Itou, do your thing."

"R, Right.. T, Thanks prez.."

Thanks to her, I got to live another day. I was grateful. And terrified at the same time. I wanted to give prez a thumbs up, but my legs were trembling so hard, I was too busy trying not to trip.

I know that I wasn't her target, but when I saw Prez's death glare, my mind turned blank and then fear just took over. That's what you call instinct, I guess..

By the way... Why am I standing in the middle of the classroom? I'm pretty sure I was supposed to do something...

What was it...

"I, Is the question too hard? I didn't know it was too difficult... I should've thought this through..."

"Buh?!..."

I almost had a heart attack. Saya sensei was in the corner a second ago, but now she's standing right next to me. Thanks to the life shortening experience, my pitiful brain cells now remembered what I should d.. Wait. Why am I'm getting a deja vu over here..

"Sensei?.. Are, you okay?.."

"I'm fine... I'm not crying or anything.. That would be embarrassing.. Huh? What is this water coming out of my eyes?.."

"Chaaarggee!"

Is history repeating itself or what? How could this same shit happen to me twice? Oh no, I ain't going to screw it up this time!

I stopped right in front of the chalkboard. Seeing Saya sensei tear up for the second time, I can feel the guys burning their eyes off just wanting to tear me apart. If I mess it up, this really is the last of me. Game over. Bad end. One way ticket to the Styx!

But that's not going to happen! I'm going to take the chalk, heighten my senses, and finish this equation once and for al..

'Crap, I don't know this..'

I mean, Saya sensei wasn't lying. If I think about it, I should be able to figure this out. But... Because I was dozing off, my mind wasn't fully... awake, so to speak. So much so, some of the numbers look like alien text me. Or it could be the fear taking over again. It could be?

Well, I can see it right now. Saya sensei's going to send me to my seat. She's going to say that she's sorry and doesn't deserve to be a teacher. After the self blaming fiasco's over, I'm going to perish in the flames and be with my ancestors! What a delightful way to reach the end~

'I, Itou Akusaka. Am a man! If the penalty of making an angel cry is death, then so be it! I shall apologize to the angel, and go out with a bang! Testosterone bodies, come at me! I do not fear you! I'm ready to accept my fat..'

When I was about to drop the chalk, something happened. I was looking at the chalkboard, but I was seeing something different.

It was the answers. The equations on the board was already solved. The answers were right there. An answer I did not solve, nor know.

With this I don't have to disappoint sensei. I don't have to be punished by the sensei worshiping guys. Is this once in a life time.

No, 'frequent' accident lucky?

"...Shit..."

 **Hell no.**

I gritted my teeth and then started to write with the chalk. The answers 'vision' filled my head and was distracting me, but I tried my best to ignore it and kept on writing.

After I finished writing, I quietly took the chalk down and swiftly turned around, slamming the board with my right hand as hard as I can. What I wrote on the board was...

 **[Please forgive me, for I do not know the answer!]**

"I'm really sorry!.."

No matter how you look at it, there was no way that this is the answer. If this is the end, I refuse to go down the normal way!

"..."

The moment I slammed the board, every single person inside the classroom froze in their place. I thought I'd be class enemy #1 by now, ready to welcome whatever punishment that came at my way. Hate and shock, that's okay, but never expected the reactions to be this quiet. It was too quiet that I was starting to get worried.

"Uh oh, did I screw up?.."

But then finally something happened. The guys who were ready to make my ass grass, smiled while clapping hands almost to the point of celebration.

"It's a screw up all right, but it's a damn good one!"

"You need to have some balls to write something that ballsy!"

"You earned our respect, Itou!"

Look at them, they're willing to forgive the sins that I have done. Of course, it would be heart warming if all their mid term grades weren't kissing the ground.

"You guys don't know the answer, do you?"

"""Well, duh?"""

Wow, that is sad. Everybody says honesty is important, but now wouldn't be the time to use it. I know this schools curriculum is quite difficult. Hell, back when I was in middle school, I had to study day and night for two year, and just barely passed the entrance exam. Normally I don't believe the phrase, 'God works in mysterious ways'. But whenever I see those guys in one of the elite schools in Tokyo, I have no choice but to be fascinated by it.

Well, thanks to... comradery? I guess I don't have to suffer after all.

"Uh, pathetic.."

"Do they actually think that's a good thing?"

"When will they grow up?"

I guess I'm wrong. Me and the guys minds is brutally torn to pieces by the girls disgusted gazes. Even Prez sighed and turned away at us. Oh god! I can't avoid the eyes! It's so painful, I'm now WISHING death right now!

"I'm trash.. I don't deserve life.."

My self confidence was beaten up beyond repair. I felt like my soul wanting to leave me and never come back. Don't worry, my body will leave soon after...

"W, Well, thank you for trying Itou! Y, You can go back to your seat now! S, Someone should come out.. S, Saki! Why don't you come out next!"

Even Saya sensei was overwhelmed by me and the guys depressing aura, that she got out of her depressing state and despertly tried to continue the class.

Well, I'm glad at least something good came out of all this.

"Haa..."

When I got back to my seat, I sighed while looking at the chalkboard. I'd be lying if I didn't feel regret for not being able to solve the question. To tell the truth, if I had a few seconds, I might have been able to solve it. But then the stupid image had to ruin everything.

This 'vision' wasn't something that happened recently too. Even when I was young, I could 'see' who will win a race match, when my parents will come home, and when some kind of accident will happen, without any knowledge of me knowing so. To put it short,

 **I could see into future events.**

I was born with these symptoms. It wasn't an all time, all seeing thing like you see in some fantasy stories. It always happens whenever it feels like it, but it gave me enough knowledge to act.. different to others.

Back then, I used these sights to benefit myself and help others that needed it or close to me. Solving difficult answers and helped my friends and people close to me avoid bad events that would happen to them. At first I thought I was luckiest person on earth. Of course, I was naive.

When I was in second grade elementary. I had a friend named Shinya, who was really into soccer. One day, when we were playing outside together with some friends, I saw a vision of him crashing into a car. I was so shocked that I told Shinya right away what was going to happen. Shinya didn't know about my ability, so it was obvious that he didn't believe me. I even suggested to play somewhere else, but he just laughed and just kept on playing. While playing, one of the kids kicked the ball so hard that it went flying. When Shinya rushed to retrieve it, he reached the road, and then the same car that I saw in my vision was coming right at him. I ran with all my might and yanked Shinya just before he got hit.

When I asked Shinya if he was okay, he shook with terror while looking at me, and immediately ran screaming. From there, my misfortune was just getting started.

Next day, Shinya completely avoided me and called me a monster. Not only that, my friends who were at that day, also avoided me because they saw what happened. They started to make rumors about me so nobody can go near me. They even ganged up and hit me. Saying that a monster like me needs to get rid of. Even the teachers believed their words over mine, and treated me like I'm a bad kid.

My whole childhood was just a living hell. And I realized that my ability was not a blessing. It was a disgusting curse.

If not for my parents who supported me, I might have done something horrible. When I couldn't stand it. They went through the trouble to move to a whole new neighborhood just for me. And when I got into high school, I told myself to change and swear that I would never give attention to my visions or act upon them.

If I see a vision I try my best to ignore it. Even to this day, I'm... afraid that the past events will happen to me again.

"...Let's foc..u..s.."

When I was about to concentrate, suddenly my head started to get dizzy. I blinked and rubbed my eyes, but it had no effect.

"Wh.. What's wrong wi..th.. me..."

I tried my best to stay awake, but my eyelids just kept getting heavier. Everything looked like it was turning and made me sick.

 **Before I could do something, everything turned black.**

* * *

 **Hey guys! This is my first time posting in a big website like this, and man am I excited! I can't believe this took three days to translate. Well, there's the fact that this is the first time writing in English... Oh, I'm Korean btw.**

 **If you're expecting this to be a normal vanguard fan fic, you are in for a ride!**


	2. Chapter 2- Lost in shadows

"Ugh... H, Huh?.."

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was darkness. Right after that, I felt sick almost to the point of throwing up. It was like someone shook me up and down constently like a Cocktail shaker.

"Ah.. What Is going..."

As I tried my best not to throw up, my mind froze a second to comprehend what I'm seeing.

The place I was in was pitch black. Everywhere I look, I couldn't see a single light. There was absolutely no light to be seen. But somehow, I was seeing my hands, legs, and my body clear as day.

"What the he, What the hell?"

The second I moved, the freakiness of the situation just doubled. I clearly jumped back, but I couldn't feel my body moving to the direction that I was supposed to go. And then I realized that I wasn't even standing on anything. I mean, I could feel my feet and legs, and through them I was standing up. But my feet were not touching any kind of solid ground. It was like I was floating in zero gravity.

"Where am I? How did I get here? Where is everyone?!"

I panicked and tried to run. But no matter how I tried, I couldn't feel any movement that I was going somewhere. Everything about this place didn't make any sense whatsoever.

"Ha.. Hah...C, Calm down.. Get a grip, Itou.."

I was hyperventilating so much that I was about to pass out. I placed my right hand on my chest and took a deep breath. If I go crazy right now, things are only going to get worse. As I caught my breath, I felt much better. After my head was clear, I closed my eyes and tried to remember what happened to me.

"Right.. I was in class just a second ago. Then I felt dizzy, and I woke up in... this place.."

That ended quickly. I was remembering things correctly, but it really doesn't help me understand why and how I got to this place. Well, the sliver lining in this shitfest is that I don't have Amnesia. At least I got that going for me.

"Is anybody there? Hello?"

I gathered my hands close to my mouth, and shouted out loud. I don't know who might be out there, or if there's actually someone except me, but I really could use all the help I could get. I shouted multiple times, but I couldn't hear anything except my own voice.

"Well, I can scratch off the 'buried alive' option."

Judging by my voice not echoing, I wasn't inside somewhere like a container/coffin. The whole place is freaky as all hell, but I didn't feel stuck or cramped one bit.

Then again, I still couldn't move a single inch. While I was trying to move, I found out that I was able to turn freely at any angle I wanted. But I was stuck in the same place. And no matter where I turn, I didn't touch a single thing. It's like nothing exists here, except me.

So yeah. This place is big, and small at the same time. Try to wrap your head around that!

"Okay. I guess there's only one explanation for all of this."

I should've realized this sooner. I was in class and then suddenly I'm in god knows where? I mean, come on. This is obviously..

"A dream! And a shitty one at that!"

I've had my fair share of weird and some down right Rea~~~lly we~~~ird dreams. But this one takes the cake! Why couldn't I have a dream of me falling off a cliff? At least that dream means I'm going to get taller. But this? I don't even know what it means, and don't WANT to know!

"All right. I just have to wait for someone to wake me up. It shouldn't take that long. I, guess?..."

They say that time flows differently when you're in a dream. If that's true, I just hope somebody wakes me up before lunch. I'm downright starving right now! I think today's menu was... Udon?

"Wait. I wonder who's going to wake me up? Oh, I wish it's sensei. Being woke up by a beauty like her? I'd welcome that anytime! If Prez is the one.. I'm going to get hit in the head for sure. Still not bad though. If it's the guys, ughhh... I didn't study my ass off, just to wake up to see a guys face. And please for the love of god! Don't let it be 'her'!"

I was talking to myself like a crazy guy more than usual. But I couldn't help it. Being alone in this place was really starting to freak me out. I had to convince myself over and over again that I'm not scared.

I just hope somebody wakes me up quick... Still. It could be worse. At least I'm alone and nothing's out to get me. Yeah. Let's look on the bright sid..

 **[Heh Heh..]**

It was then, a sudden menacing laughter breached my ears. My skin crawled the moment I heard the voice. Dreams are meant to be yourself. Or have someone or something you know. But this. This was something that's... completely wrong.

My expectations of me being alone shattered instantly, and fear quickly started to seep into the cracks.

"Who's there?!"

 **[Idiot~ Idiot~]**

The voice wasn't something that could come out of a human's vocal cords. Several different voices were mixed into one, and warped into a bizarre way, that it sound more like static noise then a person's voice. It was like listening to high pitched sounds of nails scratching a chalkboard.

 **[Where are you looking at?~]**

"Huh?!"

The sick laughter that was coming from the front, was suddenly heard from my back. I shivered and quickly turned around. But it was meaningless when I can't see anything other than myself.

'What the hell is that thing? I didn't even hear a single footstep!'

 **[Look at you~ All Pa. the. tic!~]**

The voice was toying with me. The fact that I can't see the bastard, but 'it' can clearly see me like an open book, made my heart pound in fear like crazy.

"Show yourself, you son of a bitch!"

 **[Hmm?~ Don't you know hide and seek?~ You have to f~ind~ me!~]**

"Wh, What're you laughing at? You think I'm playing?!"

I couldn't stand it, and cursed the bastard as loud as I can. But no matter how I shout, it's voice just kept getting louder and louder.

"Ugh!.. Augh!.."

I covered both ears with my hands as hard as I can, but it didn't help at all. There was no way someone could be this loud. It was like the sounds were coming from all directi...

No...

'I, Is there more of them? No, It can't be!'

 **[Why are you muffling your ears?~ You're making me look bad~ HAHAHAHAHAHA!]**

"Arghhhh!"

When it burst into laughter, my mind went blank for a second. I couldn't hear myself think. I frowned while grabbed my ears. My eardrums were shaking non stop, I almost wanted to rip them out myself. My consciousness was fading every second I heard the bastard's insane laughter.

"Ugh!... I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you!"

I opened my mouth screaming. Spiting drool everywhere while gritting my teeth, imagining biting down on his fucking tongue.

When the taste of blood covered my mouth, the sound suddenly stopped for no reason.

"Haa.. Ha... It... stopped?.."

 **Slit-**

A sudden sting was felt on my right arm. It was like a mosquito bite, that I barely felt it at all. But then, I felt some kind of warm liquid rolling down my arm. As I turned my head to see my arm, the stinging feeling grew rapidly. When I squinted my eyes from the pain, I saw it.

A huge cut was carved at my forearm. It was so big, it looked like It was cut by a large knife. The red flesh between my skin pulsated as it was completely exposed. And from it, streams of black red blood rolled down, soaking my shaking arm.

"Arrrgh! Ugh!..."

I grabbed on to my right arm, screaming at the top of my lungs. My arm was hot, like it was on fire. Every time my arm trembled, unspeakable pain rushed through my entire body.

"Hah.. Hah.. Hah..."

I breathed in air like crazy. The pain was like getting my arm chopped off again and again. I had to bit my lower lips just to stop myself from screaming. My brain felt like it was being electrocuted. I couldn't think of anything besides the pain ripping my every thoughts.

"This is a dream.. It's got to be a dream.. It HAS to be a dream!.."

My mind, my whole body felt like it was spinning endlessly. Everything was like a messed up nightmare. I wished I could just wake up and all of this would end. Seeing my classroom again.

 **[Hahahahahahahaha!]**

But my hopes were shattered by the echoing laughter. The cut and the pain was more then enough to tell me, that I am in REAL danger.

"What are you.. What the fuck are you!"

I yelled at it while swinging my left arm at all directions, in case it attacked me again. But all I could hit was the empty shadows that I couldn't see or touch. The bastard snickered, obviously making fun of how helpless I am.

*gulp*

I was terrified. Being alone with something that wants to kill me was making my whole body shake in horror. I couldn't see, I couldn't move. All I can do was hear and pray to god that it doesn't attack me again. I had goosebumps all over my skin and was sweating non stop. It didn't help that all I could see was the grotesque cut on my arm. No matter how I try not to see it, I unintentionally saw it and reminded myself how much it hurt. Sweat rolled off my cheek as I imagined the sharp blade that attacked me cutting through my flesh like it was nothing.

"Ha...Ha..."

 **[What's the matter? Come on, keep insulting me. You're not scared are you?]**

"Sh, Shut up!"

The bastard wasn't laughing like a maniac anymore. The ear bleeding high pitched sounds were gone, and now it was talking in a very quiet and low tone. But somehow it's voice still echoed everywhere like the inside of a cave.

I didn't have to block my ears anymore. But for some reason, I felt more uneasy then before. When the bastard laughed, it was like a kid trying to mess with me. But now it was like a quiet psychopath, who just got tired of it's 'project'.

"Wh, Where the... hell are you?.."

The bastard was silent. The whole place went completely quiet. All I could hear was my own breathing. It was like the bastard disappeared, but I knew he was still here, hiding from me like a coward.

 **[That's funny. You told me to shut up, but now you want me to talk? Make up your mind will you?]**

"Shut up..."

 **[See? You're just proving my point.]**

I gritted my teeth. I was completely being toyed by it.

"Hah... Damn..."

My vision was starting to get blurry. Staying sane in this god forsaken place was harder than I thought. I was so tired of all the tension, that all I wanted to do was to lie down and rest.

But then, I found out there was more than just tension.

 **[Oh. Your arm's not looking good there.]**

"What?.."

I followed the bastard's voice and looked at my bleeding arm.

"Wh.. What the hell?!"

Blood was gushing out like a faucet. It's been only a few minutes, but the cut was already getting worse. The exposed flesh was no longer red. Quickly turning to a corpse like color at every second.

I don't understand. It wasn't like this a second ago. This can't be happening!

"Why the hell is this!.."

I was shocked and immediately grabbed my arm to stop the bleeding. But the moment my hand touched the arm, sudden jolts raced through my entire skin.

 **"AAARRRGGGHHH!"**

My mind went completely black for a second. The pain was nothing like the first time. It felt like my whole body was being shredded to bits. I fell down right after I grabbed my arm. As I kneel down, my clothes were soaked at the puddle of my own blood.

*gasp* *gasp* *gasp*

 **[Why struggle? There's nothing you can do to get out of this.]**

"No... Stop..."

I couldn't even breath properly due to the intense pain. My right arm was shaking uncontrollably, almost like it was telling me to let go. If I did, I was definitely going to bleed out. It took all my might just to grab on to my arm. Every time my arm shook, the pain made my heart pump so hard it was like getting a heart attack.

I tried to stand up or at least do something, but my whole body felt like it weighed tons. It was almost impossible to move a single inch.

'If this isn't a dream, did someone in my class kidnap me? I, I might be remembering things differently... Why. Why is it me? Why am I in this place? Am I... going to die? Or am I already dead? I don't know.. I want to get out. I want to get out! I just want to go back to the life I know. Why did this have to happen? Someone. Please.. Get me out!'

I was sick of this. Sick of this place. Sick of the fucking bastard. Sick of everything. All i want is to get out of here. Get out of...

 **[Boo.]**

My left ear trembled. The bastard's voice was right next to me. The messed up voice echoed in my ear, as my barely left mind finally cracked by a shapeless force.

Called fear.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

I screamed as loud as I could. I completely forgot about my arm and immediately wrapped my two hands at my head, as I shook my head sideways like crazy. The fear was unbearable. I couldn't do anything to escape it. I cried and begged for someone to save me. To please end this nightmare..

 **Shluk-**

I froze at the sound of flesh being punctured. A sharp pain was felt on both of my back and stomach. As something was quickly pulled out of me, I could feel warm blood pouring out of my stomach.

I couldn't even let out a scream. I didn't have the will, nor the strength left to keep on going. All I could do was wait until I bleed out and die. As I lied face down trying desperately to breath, the bastard's voice was heard right above me.

 **[Poor, Poor Itou. Aren't you tired of hiding who you really are? No matter how hard you want to change. You just can't do it. Just give up. Stop trying to go back. Make it easier for the both of us.]**

Give up... The word was like candy to my ears. I would trade anything just to make this whole thing go away. The bastard quietly chuckled, as if he knew what I wanted.

 **[It was fun while it lasted. Well then. Good bye, Itou.]**

The end. This is the end...

It's really weird that the end isn't that scary. They say you can't die in a dream, but I guess this is not the case. I'm sure I'm going to die from whatever's going to happen next. To tell the truth, I'm kind of glad that I'll be gone. I could forget everything horrible that's happened to me. I could say goodbye to my fucking curse once and for all. My parents won't have to take care of a burden like me anymore. Yeah.. Everything's going to be all right..

Let's just give u...

'Itou, you're not a monster, and don't even think about listening to people who says you are. No matter what, you're my precious son.'

'If you ever want to cry, or have something in your mind, feel free to tell us. We'll always be on Itou's side.'

Two warming voices were heard in my head. My cold body from all the blood loss, became slightly warm just by listening to the two voices.

I remember... Mom and dad...

But the voices didn't end there. Right after the two, another one came along.

'Given up? Come on, where's the fun in that? You can't give up and end empty handed right? If you feel like giving up, look at me! Cause I'll be there walking besides you!'

The almost annoyingly cheerful voice was so loud, I was having a hard time listening to anything else. I chuckled at how this one was louder than the bastard's voice. Still, it made sense because it was 'her's'.

I almost forgot. That I wasn't always alone.

They knew about who I am, and yet they accepted me. Spending their precious time, and being there for me when things were hard. The voices that were always with me... My parents, and 'her'... If it were not for them, I wouldn't even thought about changing. They taught me that life was more than suffering.

Thanks to them, I got to be who I am. Not a monster, but a human. But here I am, trying to give up when I had people that I cared more than the world.

 **Well. Not a chance.**

"Hah... Giving up.. huh..."

"Hm?"

The bastard sounded confused at my mumbling. I took a deep breath, rolled up my left fist and immediately swung upwards.

"Like hell I would!"

[ **Gah!..]**

The bastard screamed in agony. For the first time, I finally felt something. The back of my hand slightly turned red, and it certainly wasn't blood. It was for a brief second, but it definitely hit the bastard. I couldn't see it, but it had form.

And that means, I could kick the bastard's well deserving ass.

"Wow, that hurts!.."

My whole body hurt like hell. I really wasn't in the condition for hitting things. Thanks to that, my right arm and stomach was gushing blood like a flood. But I really didn't care. The fact that I got to finally hit the bastard, was so exciting that I completely forgot about it.

"Ugh!... Whew..."

I flipped my body backwards and immediately stood up. Thank god there was no ground, because it would've been impossible to stand up. Of course, I almost passed out when I flipped, but now's not the time to focus on small things.

 **[Why.. you little..]**

The bastard's voice was now quite far away. I was surprised that he went that far in mere seconds. I guess my punch hurt a lot, because It sounds pissed.

"Hey, pussy! Yeah, I'm talking to you!"

 **[What did you call me?..]**

"You know, it really gets old when you constantly mock me. Now it's almost funny even. And what's with the give up shtick? Well seeing how you roll, I bet you disappointed people wa~~~y more than me. No offense."

 **[Shut up! Don't think you know me!]**

The quiet, taunting bastard roared in anger. Just a few seconds ago, it was so disturbingly creepy, but now it was like a small fussy kid.

Huh. It's not taking it well, is it. Oh boy, I think I just hit a gold mine. It's time do some 'fishing'.

"Think about you? Now why would I waste my precious brain cells on that? You know what I think? Aren't YOU the one who gave up on something? Seeing that you don't shut up about telling me to give up."

 **[Watch your mouth... I can kill you in a snap like it was nothing!]**

"Oh wow. You're really, **Pathetic**."

The moment I finished my words, the air surrounding me felt like needles. My skin crawled up so much, that it actually hurts. I could feel the bastard wanting to kill me as hard as it could.

Perfect. It bit the bait.

 **[I'll kill you!]**

The murderous sound echoed everywhere. I couldn't hear any footsteps, but I knew he was running towards me. And seeing It's pissed off it's ass, it was likely It was running

 **Directly towards me.**

"Pfh.. Sucker.."

When I was going to use my left arm, I suddenly changed my mind. My whole body jumped when I tried to move my right arm. Even a slight move, ridiculous amounts of pain surged through my body.

But if I'm going to do this. And I AM going to do this. I'm going to do this right. And I'm damn sure I'll regret it for the rest of my life, if I don't use my punching arm to knock this son of a bitch.

 **Splat!**

Blood went flying as I rolled my right fist. I felt like I was paralyzed by the surging pain. I gritted my teeth as hard as I can to ignore the pain. When I finished clutching my fist, I grabbed the wrist with my left hand and immediately punched forward.

If I'm going down, it'll be after I give the bastard a knuckle sandwich.

 **"Suck on this!"**

 **Pow!**

With the sound of impact, something heavy bumped into my fist. The bastard's painful groaning echoed through the shadows.

But there's no way I'll end this here.

 **"U..ryaaa!"**

The moment I punched the bastard, I put all my strength into my right shoulder. While my fist punched through wherever I hit. I pushed with all my might. My fist digging deeper and finally, blowing him away.

"How's..that?.."

It was painful, but also satisfying as hell. I definitely gave him a good punch. But there was no sound of him rolling or groaning. I didn't know if he died or was still here. Of course, nobody can die in a single punch. Ok, it's possible but I'm not THAT strong.

I wasn't sure, but it was so quiet and I didn't have the same feeling when It was clearly here. It was like the bastard completely vanished.

And then,

 **Crack!**

I couldn't believe my own eyes. The whole shadows that surrounded this place broke into pieces like glass. And what replaced the shadows, was golden light.

"Ah!.. What's going on now?"

The light was so bright that I wasn't able to even see properly. I squinted my eyes and placed my hand on my forehead to make a little shade. It helped but I could barely see my own body. The light was everywhere, from top to bottom. I couldn't understand what's happening. It sure looked better than before, but I was so confused that I wasn't sure if this was a good thing.

More importantly. How do I go back?

 **[It's you..]**

"Huh?..."

A certain woman's voice was heard inside the lights. It wasn't anything like the bastard's voice. It was so calm, warm and soothing, that I wasn't even startled at it.

The light. The voice... It was all warm like the sun.

 **[I've finally found you.. The true pioneer who will lead the 'Oracle think tank'..]**

"The what?.."

Suddenly, I saw something moving inside the light. I couldn't tell what It was, but it was slowly moving towards me. At first, I felt suspicious and didn't dare to touch it. But for some reason, part of me was knew that it wasn't going to hurt me. And before I knew it. I was already reaching my hand to the light.

The moment my hand was touched, the light surrounding me grew even brighter. The strong light consumed my body whole. And there, my mind turned blank.

* * *

 **"Ahhhh!"**

I woke up screaming at the top of my lungs. The first thing I noticed was the light. It wasn't too dark, or was too bright. I was able to see exactly where I was, with no trouble.

"What's up with him?"

"Bad dream, I guess?"

Whispering came from everywhere. I quickly moved my head back and forth, to see who was talking.

It was... my classmates.. And this was my classroom.. That means...

"I'm back..."

"Uh, Itou?.. You just stood up for no reason.. Do you have something to say?"

Oh god, It's Saya sensei. I can't believe I got to see her beautiful face one more time. This is almost like a dream. Wait, IS it a dream?

"Ow..."

I pinched my own thigh to check. It hurt a lot, and not a single thing was cracking or turning into lights. Oh yeah. I'm back for real.

"Itou?.."

"Ah, It's nothing. Just saw... a really big bug."

Saya sensei started to look worried, and I quickly waved my hands telling her it was nothing. Of course, what I really wanted to do was hug every single one in my class, and shout 'Life is great!' for ten minutes, but I also don't want to celebrate my amazing return, by being a punching bag to everyone.

I sat back on my desk and wondered how much time was left till lunchtime.

Thankfully, the school bell rang at perfect timing. Sensei hurried to the chalkboard and hastily erased the equations with the chalk eraser. At the same time, Prez stood up from her seat, gently dusting off eraser dust from her skirt.

"All rise... Bow."

 **"""Thank you for your effort."""**

"Ahaha.. You all did very well today. I hope you all have a good lunch time!"

 **"""Yes, ma'am!"""**

When Saya sensei left the classroom smiling, the guys rushed out like horses, to get to the cafeteria as fast as they can. In the blink of an eye, they were all gone. Leaving only clouds of dust. Meanwhile, the girls sighed at the childishness and headed outside at their own pace.

I too, was starving and really wanted to eat something right now. But I had other things to finish first.

I had hundreds of questions that needed to be answered. I sighed heavily while wrapping my hands to my head.

'Was the thing all a dream? What was that place? And who was that in the light?'

The cuts that I had was all gone. That meant it was a dream. But never in my life, I had a dream that was realistic as this one. And the voice from the light.. I have no idea what that meant.

*sigh...*

"First, let's eat..."

If I think like this with an empty stomach, I'm gonna lose my mind. My stomach was growling like crazy. I have to feed it if I don't want my stomach to eat 'me'.

 **[Ahem.. Master. If you have a headache, I could help you with that.]**

"Huh? No, it's nothing. Just really hungry, that's all.. Huh?"

I was the only one in the classroom. I even saw everyone heading outside. But I'm sure someone was talking to me just now...

"Wait. Is this a ghost? If you're looking for someone to punish, I know some guys you might be interested in?"

I knew it. Night and day doesn't mean crap on ghosts. I mean, seriously. Why do people think sunlight will stop beings who are already dead? Do they think they're vampires or something? Speaking of vampires, the garlic thing is bullshit too!

"Who..said that?"

 **[Oh, of course... I'm on the desk, master.]**

I immediately looked at my desk, but all I could see was my own stuff. This was starting to smell like someone's prank.

Wait. If this a ghost that hanged itself, it does make sense... Oh, just thinking about it's making me chilly..

"Huh?"

But then I noticed something odd stuck to my textbook. It was a certain card.

"Wait. This is a vanguard card."

Oh, I knew about this. Back in the day, I used to play this game 24/7. It was easy to learn, and it was really fun to play. Of course I stopped playing, with all things that happened to me. Recently, I was FORCED to start playing again due to a certain... 'someone'.

"Ah, good memories... And the bad stuff... If my memories are correct, I used Oracle think..."

For a moment, my thoughts completely froze. Oracle think tank.. It was exactly the same as the voice from the light. But what does this have to do with anythin..thi... thi...thin...

 **[Oh. I'm glad you already know about this. Well then. As my first duty for my master. Let me introduce myself. My name is...]**

"Wha..Wha...Wha..."

 **The card was talking. A card that's printed and sold for 200 yen a pop, is talking to me. The body. The lips. They were all moving like a real human. Oh, look. She's looking at me all confused, because I'm frozen solid right now.**

 **Ahahahahaha. Ahahahahaha...**

 **Haha.. Ha...**

 **"What the hell?!"**

 **[...CEO.. Amateratsu?...]**

I barely. BARELY got out of that hellhole, and somehow brought something else...

* * *

 **Whew! Finally all done! It took long, but it sure is worth it! BTW, sorry for all the swearing. I'm just glad that this is the 'censored' version. Korean swears are quite rough!**

 **Anyway.. Yup! Units that could talk! But that's not all they could do.**

 **Oh no. They could do much. MUCH more.**


	3. Chapter 3- Tied by fire

"So... Mind telling me what your name is?"

 **[M, Master? I, Is there any reason to continue thi, Stop! Stop! Stop! It's CEO! CEO Amateratsu!]**

The panicked cry rang through the alley. It didn't come from me, and there certainly wasn't anyone else in the alleyway. Technically speaking, there WAS 'something' with me. A single card that I was holding between my thumb and index finger. And not just any card, a vanguard card. But not only that.

A one that could also talk.

The one in the card was a woman. She looked like she was in her early twenties, barely looking older than me. But at the same time, had a very mature feeling to her. No matter how you look, she was a natural beauty. Sparkling brown eyes, milk like white skin, her whole face was like a perfectly carved statue. Her long silky black hair, beautifully made short skirt kimono and white knee high boots, made her look breathless. Although, the flashy looking sun ornament above her head, was looking a little over the top.

It's so sad that she's a wandering ghost. She must have suffered a lot to end up inside a card.

"That's better."

 **[Wh, Why do you keep asking my name, master?]**

"You have to ask a spirit's name three times before you send them off, right? Now, one more time!"

 **[...]**

She looked the other way and closed her lips, pretending that she didn't listen to what I said.

"...Well, I guess two should do it."

 **[C.E.O A.m.a.t.e.r.a.t.s.u!]**

The lady in the card was now beyond frightened. So much so that she immediately shouted out her name one letter at a time, so that I could definitely hear it.

Well, she should. If she doesn't, then she's got a one way ticket to the incinerator that's burning right beneath her. I know this is a cruel way, but she's in so much denial and delusion, that I have to do this for her sake.

Just moments ago, I had a dream of being trapped somewhere where I couldn't see anything. And to make matters worse, I was with a freaky bastard(who I'm sure was definitely NOT a human) who hid in the shadows and tried to kill me. I know it was a dream, but it really felt like I was dying. After some 'slight' struggles, I barely knocked It's lights out. Then the whole place was filled with light. Some voice came from the light, and when I reached my hand, the light grew stronger, consuming me whole. And when I opened my eyes, I was back in the classroom.

Everything seemed normal. At least, before I saw this talking vanguard card.

'Wow, wow, wow... This thing is DEFINITELY out of my hands..'

I had no idea what to do with this. But I know what this means, though. Having a talking card obviously means, my life is now officially messed up. I slapped/punched my face several times to prove that this is also a dream, and that my life still has a chance. But the pain and stupidity that came after it, just enforced the fact that this was all real.

Trick question. You now have a cursed object. What do you do with it?

Burn it till there's nothing left. The answer was so obvious, that the moment I was freaked out by the card, I immediately grabbed it and ran as fast as I can to the back of the school, where the incinerator was. Thankfully the janitor was off to lunch, so I turned the incinerator with no problem, which leads to where I am right now. Listening to the final moments of a poor lost soul, before I toast her medieval witch hunt style.

"You know. Besides the screaming part, you keep saying that you're an alien from a far away planet."

 **[Y, Yes... I tried to make you understand as much as I could, master... But,]**

"No buts. And stop calling me 'master'. Got it?"

 **[Uwaaaa! Yes, I get it! Perfectly understood! So please stop that!]**

The card cried her eyes out and desperately begged, when I pretended to lower my hand to the incinerator. Normally I wouldn't do this sort of thing, but with this and all the dream stuff... let's just say I wasn't feeling generous today.

When the card sighed in relief, I moved my hand up and down repeatedly, like trying to bait fish in water. In this case there's no fish or water, but plenty of fire.

 **[AAAHHHH! Don't do it! Pull me up!]**

The card's voice spiked dramatically whenever I lowered her to the fire.

 **[W, W, Wait! Please, just listen to me for a moment! I know this is all s, sudden. B, But you have to understand, we're in a dire..]**

The card's face completely turned white. Not only that, her tidy hair and clothes was now a mess. For a second, I felt sorry seeing her like that. But then I realized I had better things to do with my time, and tending to a ghost was not worth my already short lunch time.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it that you don't want to move on. But it really doesn't help either of us, if you keep haunting me like this. I'm a high school student with dreams ahead of me, you know?..."

 **[B, But...]**

"Come on, you're gonna have a great time at heaven. All the time you want, your own penthouse with great view, wonderful neighbors, all the good stuff. Unless you're going to hell... If that's the case... Good luck?"

I tried to cheer(?) her up, but it looked like she wasn't listening to me. She lowered her head and sighed heavily, completely surrounding herself with grief. Even I felt slightly depressed just by looking at her.

 **[I can't believe this.. After all the effort to find a 'Psyqualia' user... Just to fail miserably...]**

While she was being depressed, I couldn't help but to look at her funny.

Psyqualia? It was like a name for a metal band, that sings really weird music that no one would understand. It was definitely a word that I've never heard before, or anyone else in general.

I didn't know if it was the teenage curiosity kicking in. But for some reason, I kinda wanted to know what the word 'Psyqualia' meant.

"Uh... Hey."

 **[D, Did you change your mind?! I knew you would be our pioneer!]**

"No, No, No. That's not happening."

She collapsed when I answered her instantly without giving a single thought. Her face was covered in gloomy shadow as she laughed quietly. It looks like she completely gave up on persuading me.

 **[Hahaha... I don't care anymore... I'm going to be gone anyway... If you have some questions, feel free to ask... I might as well relieve your curiosity before I burn away...]**

"R, Right..."

With nothing to lose, she just let herself go. Laughing and mumbling at the same time like a crazy person. She looked so sad, that I almost felt sorry for her. I shook my head, and reminded myself not to let my guard down. No matter how sad she looks, she had to do something with my nightmares. I couldn't tell what she would do to me if I trusted her.

I'm just going to ask her, and that's it. Who knows? Maybe I'll set her free.

"What's a Psyqualia?"

 **[...I, beg your pardon?...]**

She blinked while lowering her eyebrows, looking at me funny like I've got something in my cheek. I couldn't understand her puzzled reaction, when I just simply asked a question.

"What's wrong?"

 **[Oh, it's nothing. It's just... I'm surprised you asking me about Psyqualia, when you already have it, master.]**

"I thought I told you, not to call me master."

When I lowered my hand again, she cried begging me to stop. She shook in fear, not knowing when I would put her close to the fire again. But unlike her worries, I decided to stop this prank. Messing with someone, and making them cry over and over again, just seemed wrong to me.

Even if it was a ghost. And was sort of funny.

 ***Cough**Cough***

 **[To put it simply, Psyqualia is an ability that let's the user to control spiritual energy.]**

"Spiritual energy? What's that?"

 **[It's an energy that forms all things. Humans, machines, even the stars and the galaxy itself contains spiritual energy.]**

"Machines? You mean that machines are alive too?"

 **[Well, no. Living things, such as animals and humans, possess a fair amount of spiritual energy inside them. While inanimate objects possess little to no spiritual energy. If living beings run out of spiritual energy, it would bring dangerous consequences. But to inanimate objects, it means absolutely nothing. Having spiritual energy doesn't mean an object is 'alive'. To machines, it's just a fragment of energy that happens to exist.]**

"Is that so..."

I was sort of relieved. If machines really WERE alive, then that would be the freakiest thing I've ever heard of. I would've questioned everything that I've known until now, and the whole world would never look the same again. To put it short. No robot apocalypse.

 **[But not everyone can use the spiritual energy they possess. In fact, it's dangerous to even try.]**

"Huh? Why's that?"

 **[Because spiritual energy is very hard to replenish. It differs to person to person, but it normally takes a human about three months, just to bring back half their regular amount.]**

"It takes THAT long? What happens if you run out?"

 **[It's truly awful. You will feel tremendous amounts of pain, while your body slowly shuts down. Your mind will be like falling into an endless abyss. Unable to think of anything, but the slow pain. And eventually, die in a few minutes.]**

I felt a sudden chill as my saliva rolled down my throat. I didn't know I was even sweating right now. Her eyes weren't telling any lies. She was dead serious about what she was saying to me.

While I was listening to her, I suspected that she was speaking nonsense. All the things that she was saying, sounded nonsense too. But now, I can't tell if she's telling the truth, or lies that she blindly believes.

"Hang on a sec. If what you're saying is true, why aren't there any reports on people using this energy? People should be falling left and right, if it's dangerous as you say it is."

 **[Simple. It's because they cannot use it.]**

I raised my eyebrows on her straight to point answer. It was weird to hear people not being able to use spiritual energy, right after the fact that she said, people could die when they run out of it.

"But didn't you say it takes about three months, just to restore half of a person's spiritual energy? Then that means they 'are' using it, right?"

 **[Yes, but not by their will.]**

"What do you mean by that?"

 **['Using' spiritual energy does not always require consciousness. For example, if you're damaged mentally, or physically, you unconsciously use spiritual energy to naturally restore the damage. However, the amount of energy you use in this healing process is very small. That's the reason why healing from wounds are slow.]**

"So, if you're able to use more energy, you could heal more faster? Be more stronger, too?"

 **[Precisely. But most of the people on this planet, cannot use spiritual energy at their will. Their bodies are locked to 'store' rather than to 'use'. Even in a dire moment, it makes sure to use the least amount of spiritual energy as possible. Think of this as a defense mechanism. if people were able to use spiritual energy as much as they could, the human race would have been long extinct.]**

I didn't realize that I kept nodding my head while she explained everything. I didn't know anything about what she said. What choice do I have, other than to shut up and listen to her? And for a ghost rambling about things that I don't know, it fairly made some sense. 'People not being able to use spiritual energy'. If it's true, it could explain why I couldn't see anyone like me. And if people weren't locked to an energy that's hard to replenish, they would certainly be dead already.

It all sounded interesting. But I got the feeling that she wasn't done talking.

"Except Psyqualia users, right?"

 **[You catch on quick, mast.. *cough*..nothing..]**

She coughed at the last second, right before she was about to finish the sentence. I tried not to laugh, and pretended that I didn't hear her. It was kinda cute how she tried her best not to make me uncomfortable.

 **[As you could tell, Psyqualia users are different to normal humans.]**

"So, what. I'm an alien?"

 **[No, Mast.. Could you please not interrupt me? I'm trying my best to explain this for you.]**

She frowned at me like a teacher scolding a rude student. Seeing her gentle face turn, I realized my actions were impolite.

"Oh, sorry.."

I apologized right away. Despite her kind nature, I was surprised that she had quite a temper. Thankfully, she forgave me when I immediately apologized to her.

 **[Psyqualia users are usually born with their powers. Unlike regular humans, Psyqualia users have high affinity with spiritual energy. Not only can they freely use spiritual energy that flows inside them. The amount of energy that they contain, is vastly superior than normal humans.]**

"I have more energy than other people? I don't know how I should feel about that. Hold on. Even if I have a large capacity, isn't it pointless if I have to wait six months if I run out?...Why are you smiling?"

She crossed her arms while throwing out her chest. Smiling proudly, as if she was waiting for this moment.

 **[Well, that's the best part! Psyqualia users can replenish energy much faster than others. When it takes months to fill, it takes Psyqualia users mere days to fully recover energy!]**

"R, Really? Well that's certainly different."

If that's the case, Psyqualia users don't have to worry about running out of energy at all. I wonder. Is that the reason why I don't feel exhausted when I see visions? To be honest, I don't even know if seeing visions actually use up my energy.

I've never used, or at the very least, 'remember' using spiritual energy in my entire life.

"I think I kinda get the gist of what Psyqualia is. But why do YOU need to find someone who has it?"

 **[Units from Cray, such as I, use spiritual energy just like you. By using cards as a medium, like the one you're currently holding. You could use spiritual energy to resonate with your chosen clan's units. That's the reason why you could speak to me right now. We, Oracle think tank are in... a dire situation. We NEED a capable Psyqualia user to lead our clan. Before... 'enemy' clans could take action.]**

Enemy clans... I sensed fear from her shaking eyes. In the card game, there was over twenty clans. 23, to be exact. I guess earth isn't the only place that there's conflict. But I don't get why she's tense about this. I mean, it's still a children's card game. Right?...

"You know a lot about this. It seems you've been through a lot."

 **[Uh... You have no idea. I've been wandering Earth for years to meet a worthy master...]**

"...So, you ARE a ghost?"

 **[N, No! Well... Technically, my current state WOULD be considered a ghost. Since I can't interact with others. And I DO honestly look like a possessed being... But I am NOT a ghost!]**

I didn't have to say a single thing. She just said it all for me. How convenient.

"Well look at you. I didn't know you had it in you, but you finally accepted. Good for you."

 **[I didn't accept anything! I just admitted I DO look suspicious, that's all!]**

"Riggghhhttt..."

She almost burst into tears when seeing me looking at her all too suspicious. She flailed her arms in slight tears, to convince that she's not a ghost. It was sad, and fun to watch at the same time. I don't normally tease people, but with today's experience, I think I can somewhat understand their,

Let's not dwell on that...

 **[Moooving on, Psyqualia users are not known only for their energy efficiency. All individual Psyqualia users have a special ability of their own. I'm sure you have one too, right?]**

"Yeah, I do..."

Can't say I like it though...

 **[Oh, that's wonderful! I'm glad that you're 'blessed' with such an amazing gift.]**

My shoulders shuddered the moment I heard it. Me, being called a monster, being ignored by almost everyone, treated like trash, is a BLESSING? I gritted my teeth on how this 'ability' was anything, but blessing.

 **[It's an honor to find a Psyqualia user like...]**

 **"Screw you!"**

I cut her short, and yelled at her as loud as I can. She looked shocked. Unable to speak a single word. I couldn't care less about her. I put her right in front of my face, and I grabbed the card firmly. Almost wanting to crush the card in my hands.

 **"You listen here. You think having such power is so great, that nothing bad is going happen to you. Like you're some king of the world, huh?"**

 **[What?... T, That's not what I'm trying to sa...]**

 **"Did you ever consider that someone would NOT want this kind of power? Do you know what this can do to you, when all you want is to live a normal, peaceful life? Do you even know! How this could hurt you, and the ones you love! To the point, that you just want to end your own life?! If that's what you call blessing? Then, FUCK! ALL! OF! YOU!"**

I placed my hand on my neck while gasping for air. My throat was sore from all the screaming. I looked at the card that was in my hand.

She was terrified. Her lips were trembling, like she wanted to say something. But wasn't able to. After all the anger that I just let out, I felt awful for her. She had nothing to do with what I've been through. And yet, I treated her like it was all her fault. I wished I thought about it first, before I lashed out on her. All this time, I thought I've finally changed. But in truth, I was still the brat who can't even escape his own shadow.

"...I'm really"

 **[I'm truly sorry, master.]**

When I was about to apologize, she was the one who apologized first. I didn't understand. I was the one at fault here. Why is she sorry for me?

 **[You're right, master. Power does not always bring happiness. I should not have been so naive. I know that you've been through so many hardships. Please forgive me for disgracing your past.]**

Every word she said was sincere from the bottom of her heart. She lowered her head and deeply apologized to me, when it really was just an innocent mistake. I've threatened her to burn her on and on. For me, it was a half in doubt prank. But for her, I was toying with her life. Despite the things I've done to her, she's shown nothing but honest respect for me.

She's not the one who should bow down and apologize. I was.

"No. I'm the one who should say sorry. I've done nothing but ignore you from the first time we met. I even threatened to burn you several times. I'm an asshole who doesn't deserve your respect."

I immediately lowered my head and apologized. Next, I loosened my grip and pulled her far away from the incinerator. She startled and shook her hands left and right, telling me to stop what I'm doing.

 **[M, Master! Please raise your head! You're not what you say you are! True, your methods are... little extreme, but you had a goo, a reason to do so! Ghosts ARE spooky to me too! Ahahaha...]**

"God... If you say it like that, I look like an even bigger asshole..."

 **[Wh, What?! I, I didn't mean to do that! Oh, I'm bringing you nothing but trouble... I'm sorry!]**

She lowered her head repeatedly like a bird feeding. I couldn't help but giggle at her honesty, that's clearly working overtime. I sat down on the ground while looking directly at her.

 **[Master?...]**

She also looked right at me with a curious face. Blinking her eyes like a puppy, just waiting for me to talk. She seemed relieved, now that she was away from the incinerator.

"At first, I thought you were an illusion made by my... Psyqualia ability. In case you're wondering, I could see future visions. Not all the time, but mostly things that would happen to me in seconds, or minutes. I had this ability as long as I could remember. It helped me a lot. Got perfect scores on the test, avoid bad events, knowing what my friends would like and act upon it. But then one day, I saved a friend from a car accident. I warned him before so many times, that when it finally happened, he was terrified of me. That's when everyone of my friends started to call me a monster..."

 **[Master, that's...]**

"And look at me right now. The things I've done to you are inexcusable. I mean, who does that? Maybe I really am a monster. I may just not know it yet..."

 **[...Do you regret it?]**

Suddenly, she asked me a question out of nowhere. Her tone was deep, and she didn't stutter her words at all. She was serious.

"Regret what?"

 **[Saving your friend. If you didn't save him, then all the things you had to go through, wouldn't have happened. If you could change it, would you do it?]**

I didn't get what she was trying to say. I never thought that she would actually respond to my pity talk. There was absolutely no reason for her to care about me. I don't have any idea how I should reply to her.

'If it didn't happen? Then, I would've been really happy. Everyday, I wished it was all a dream, and everything would change when I woke up in the morning. That was what I always wished for. If it did happen. Me and my parent's lives could have been better...But...'

My answer was already decided.

 **[Master. Would you?]**

"No. Whatever happened, happened. If I could save a life, I would do it again."

After hearing my words, the tension on her face loosened. Greeting me with a warm, kind smile.

 **[Listen carefully, master. You had a lot of chances to use your powers for evil. You could've ignored the accident. You could've taken revenge on the ones who mistreated you. You could've used your powers to manipulate the good. But you didn't. You wanted to make friends. You used it to save your friend. You used it 'for them'. Even if you used it for your own, you now know that's wrong, and try to act reflecting to that. You're not a 'monster'. You're not 'bad'. Please, don't be stuck in the past.]**

I didn't say a word and just listened. It was like being hit in the back of my head with a sledgehammer. I had nothing to say.

Stuck in the past... I've done all I can to run from the past. Changed everything to not be called a monster, ever again. And that made me who I am right now. But how can I change, when I'm still afraid? I was so scared that someone would call me a monster. What I didn't know, is by doing that, I was thinking 'myself' as a monster.

Maybe it's time... To get out of this shadow. This... Fear...

"Haha..."

I chuckled to myself. I learned something valuable, from a talking card. If anyone else sees this, they must think I'm going nuts.

 **[I, Is everything all right, master?... I, If I did something wrong, I'll be more than happy to jump into the flames! Yes, my time has come! I've wasted your time far enough!]**

It really didn't sound very convincing, when her voice was cracking.

 **[~~~~~]**

 **[Hya?!]**

The school bell, telling that lunch time is over, rang through the entire school. She was in so much stress, that she jumped and almost fainted when the bell rang.

"Ah... Lunch is already over? Seriously, I think lunch time is actually 30 minutes, instead of an hour."

 **[Uuuu...]**

She closed her eyes and ears tightly, as she was readying herself to fall in the incinerator. I turned off the fire, and closed the hatch as I walked to the backdoor, leading to the school building.

Her whole body shook at the sound of the hatch close. She opened her eyes, and looked up at me, confused as nothing has happened to her.

 **[Huh? Why am I...]**

She acted like it was weird that she WASN'T in the incinerator, right now.

"L, Listen... I'm really sorry for all the things I did to you. I know I'm not a 'great person' material, and I don't know one thing about being a 'Pioneer'. But..."

 **[Wait... Are you saying...]**

My cheek was itching like crazy. Now that I think about it, this sounds like a proposal than anything else. It's kinda embarrassing... But here goes nothing!

"...I'll... Be at your service...A, Amateratsu..."

It was then, her. No, Amateratsu's eyes glowed like spotlights, and she hopped in the air with joy, like she just became a 5 year old kid.

 **[Whooooo! No! I'll be in YOUR service, master! Your service, indeed!]**

Uhh... The word 'master' is really getting on my nerves... It's something straight out of a manga, or an anime! Ones that are embarrassing to show them to someone!

"Uh, could you maybe... Tone it down with the 'master' thing?"

 **[Nope! I will address you the right way, which is master! This is something I will never give up!]**

"Uh... All right. I get it."

 **[Master~ Master~]**

I think this will take a while to get used to.

To this whole thing.

And my partner.

* * *

 **All righty! Another chapter complete! I'm really feeling it!**


	4. Chapter 4- Chihiri Kinoshita

**Before we start: BTW. Do you guys know any ways to edit documents that you already posted? I don't want to delete and put it up again... If you guys let me know, I'll really appreciate it.**

* * *

"That's all for today. I hope today was wonderful for all of you. Recently there's multiple missing persons incident, so everyone, be careful on your way back home!"

"""Good bye, sensei!"""

The long day of studying was over. After shortly finishing the end-day meeting, Saya sensei sent us off with her warm unchanging smile. When we bowed our heads, sensei bowed back, still smiling even when she lifted her head.

"One, two..."

Sensei then lifted the mountains of books that was stacked on the lectern. We, as students were finished for the day. But Saya sensei's day looked far from finished. Several guys quickly stood up and volunteered to help her, but sensei shook her head, saying that she could handle it.

There was six books in her arms, and every single one of them looked big enough to be a weapon. It looked liked it weighed at least 15 kilograms, but surprisingly Saya sensei didn't look like she was having trouble. In fact, when she lifted the books, she lifted them in one go, when a woman or even a man would at least struggle once.

I guess being a teacher really requires a lot.

"Good bye, everyone!"

Sensei opened the door, and kindly waved her hand goodbye before she left. While carrying a 15 behemoth with only one hand. I could see the other student's being shocked at sensei's unexpected strength, which also included me.

I gotta say. That is the second weirdest thing I've seen today.

 **Tud Tud Tud**

Sensei's fast footsteps rang through the hallway. For her to run like that, it looked like she was in quite a hurry. It was odd to see her finish homeroom faster than usual. When normally it took her way longer, asking us about basic safety procedures that even a kindergarten would know. But she did say something about 'being busy today', so I guess that's the reason.

Not that I'm complaining. Nobody in our class looked liked they had problems about going home earlier.

"Hey. Wanna go to a Karaoke? I know a place that just opened, and it's fifty percent off!"

"Really? Then we should go!"

"Do you remember where I saved? I'm sure I saved before the boss room."

"What, you don't remember? You saved at the red hallway."

"...Oh god, I'm screwed.."

Everybody had their own plans on what they were going to do.

'I guess 'that' already became yesterday's news...'

It seemed that nobody cared about the missing persons case that sensei warned us about at the end. From what I saw in the morning news a few days ago, an estimated fifteen people were missing around Tokyo. There were rumors of kidnapping and I even saw some police around patrolling in Shinjuku and Shibuya because of this. It was a rather serious case. Luckily there were no reports of missing students from our school or any other schools around the area. Because of that, the missing person's case wasn't a news of horror, but was a good gossip material among some students. I heard the guys from the occult club were having a ball with this incident.

Me on the other hand, was on the side that had no interest about the incident. I knew for a fact that this was a thing that would bring nothing but trouble.

Warning or not, thanks to sensei's short homeroom everyone was ecstatic and bolted out the door right after sensei left.

But not all of them...

"Sure, go out and have some fun. That is, AFTER you finish your cleaning duty."

Prez effortlessly moved around the classroom like a ghost. Quickly snatching students that was designated to today's cleaning duty. Some tried to run, but it was impossible, due to her standing close to the door like a gate keeper. The back door was already guarded by another female student that was unfortunately caught. Eagerly blocking students on cleaning duty, with flaming eyes saying, 'I'm screwed anyway, might as well take you all with me!'.

"Oh crap, I completely forgot.."

"You too."

"Wow, Haira. You don't miss anything, do you? It's almost scary how you pick these things off.."

Prez each handed the caught students a broom and a dustpan. Sending them back inside to clean up. Prez didn't just stand around, and started to clean the classroom with the other students. Even while cleaning, she managed to catch two more runners with no problem.

I'm telling you, god itself won't be able to run from her.

"Oof... My shoulders are killing me..."

When I tried to carry my backpack. The moment the straps pressed my shoulders, it felt like I was being electrocuted. I dropped my bag while turning both of my arms in circles, to try to relax my tensed muscles. It sort of worked, but it still hurt.

After lunchtime, I went straight to my classroom that was located on the fourth floor. But when I got there, nobody was in the classroom. For a second, I thought this was another nightmare. But then I remembered that the fifth period was science. Eitouku Gakuen had three buildings, and it just so happens the science room was in the third building, which was the farthest from here.

Not to mention, it had to be at the third floor, which is the tallest floor on the building!

The building I was in was huge, and I was already behind the clock. Combining that with my empty stomach, I was doomed from the start. I immediately ran as fast as I could. But at the end, to nobody's surprise, I was ten minutes late for class.

Not only was I embarrassed, when I opened the door and saw everyone's awkward gazes towards me. I had to be scolded by the strict, exercise mania, 80% muscle of a man. Aka, our science teacher. As if being late for class wasn't bad enough, the teacher made me carry a giant sized beaker that came up to my knees. I was completely shocked at the mere sight of the beaker's ridiculous size. It was impossible for a thing of that size to exist. When I asked the teacher, why on earth would he have something like that, he simply replied that he custom made it to challenge himself both in strength and intelligence. The golden question what I really wanted to ask him after hearing it, was his alcohol level when he decided to take the extra mile.

I hid my real thoughts and tried to compliment on the beaker to avoid carrying it. The teacher was happy to hear it. And as a reward, I had the honor to carry the damn thing in front of the class. Only boasting the teacher's idea even more.

Even now, I regret not telling the truth. At least it would've been fun.

"If he likes to exercise that much, why didn't he just be a P.E. teacher? And giant beakers... God, the giant beakers!"

The point where my embarrassment hit the peak, was when the teacher actually used the beaker, while I was holding it. The beaker was heavy as it was big. Adding liquids and materials on that certainly didn't help. Some of the students giggled, as my face turned red and my legs shaking like it was made in rubber, while I tried my best not to drop the beaker that was heavier then a 7 year old.

My whole face was hot, like I was being boiled in water. It was so embarrassing that I wished I'd just wither away with the wind, but what came after blew my embarrassment away. The teacher became mad at the students that laughed. Saying that they didn't have the right to make fun of. From the drawers, he pulled out six beakers that was exactly the same as the one I was holding, and then made the six students that laughed, to lift the beakers alongside me. Not only that, he filled the six beakers with water, justifying that it's only an experiment on muscle endurance.

I would've been touched, if it wasn't so obvious that he was mad because he thought the students made fun of his beakers, not me. But it was the result that counts. Being able to drag down six losers with me, was the most satisfying experience that I had all day.

After class, the teacher gave me and six others a pain relief patch to help ease the pain. The thought was nice, but there was absolutely no way a patch would do anything, when I had to lift a beaker that weighed at least 18 kilograms, for a whole hour.

Of course, besides the cool feeling, it didn't do anything. And I had to suffer from back pain for the last three periods. Now my back was all numb, that it was hard to feel anything except tingling pain. Three hours of continuous back pain was more painful then I imagined.

All because, some teacher didn't feel like exercising with normal sporting equipment!

"I just hope nobody makes this a thing. Like calling me 'Beaker man'. Or 'The Beaker Brothers'... Oh, god! Please don't let it be Beaker Brothers!"

I was freaking out, if someone would really call me in that ridiculous nickname.

 **[Master, I don't think they will make names out of you, just because you carried a big beaker. Even if master happens to be called Beaker Brothers. It wouldn't be that weird of a nickname. In fact, I don't think it's that bad.]**

In my hand, Amateratsu was kind enough to encourage me. It was really sweet of her to care about me. But the latter part, was just no. I downright refuse to admit, about 'Beaker Brothers' being an 'ok' nickname.

"Are you kidding?! That kind of nickname is a sure way to get yourself laughed at! Giant beakers are weird enough. You think it's a good idea being named after that?!"

 **[We, Well if you put it like that, it does sound a little bit weird. The reason I said that it wasn't weird, was because the Great Nature's high beast units use school equipment that weights over a ton, all the time.]**

"Oh... Really? But aren't they like, really smart? I wouldn't be able to concentrate for a second if I used those things, let alone lift one."

 **[This may be hard to understand, master. But the Great Nature's high beasts are blessed with strength that comes from the grand plains of 'Zoo'. They are unlike any other high beasts from other nations. Their unique habitat makes them incredibly strong, so lifting a ton isn't much of a problem for them.]**

"Is that so?"

 **[Yes. That's why their motto is 'Obtaining brawn and brains at the same time'.]**

I nodded continuously while listening to Amateratsu's new facts about Cray. I keep forgetting that she's an alien from a far away planet, that operates on logic different that of earth. Besides some topics about earth, I knew absolutely nothing about the Cray she was talking about.

But I got to say, it IS interesting. Listening to her talking about Cray, was like listening to a really cool fairy tale. A world where science and magic coexists. Knights, dragons, gods, robots, talking animals, demons, all kinds of races existing on a single planet. My imagination went completely wild. For the last three periods, all I could listen to was Amateratsu's stories of Cray.

Despite her looking like a fragile flower, she was quite a hero herself. Being part of a great war called 'The war of creation'. And after the war ended, she became the CEO of a giant corporation, which was the now Oracle Think Tank. I felt so small while hearing her almost to impossible achievements. So much so that I kinda wanted to believe she was exaggerating.

Time flew when I was talking with her. But it was a real pain when I had to take her out of my pocket, in order for me to talk to her. I was almost caught several times by the students and the teachers. Amateratsu said there was a way to talk telepathically, but we both had no idea how to do it.

The only, and also biggest downside of talking to Amateratsu, was not being able to hear a single thing from class. As a first year student studying for the finals, this was quite dangerous.

'I hope today's class was just a reminder for the finals...'

"Itou. Why are you still here when you're not even on cleaning duty? You're in the way, so go home."

Prez waved her hand, telling me to step aside while she tried to mop beneath my seat. With her in charge, the whole classroom was spotless. Floors and windows sparkling, seats and equipment organized, it was to be expected from her.

"You're also not in cleaning duty, prez. Didn't you have other things to do?"

As the student council president, prez had a lot on her plate. Every time I see her, she was always doing some kind of work. Even things that she doesn't have to do. If anyone needed some help, she jumped right in to solve the situation. Doing everything by the clock, and yet prez didn't look remotely exhausted. It was like she was born to be the student council president.

"...How many times do I have to tell you? Call me. By my. Name."

"Oh, sorry pre, I mean, Haira..."

My body froze up when she glared at me. When prez can be kind to people, she can be equally scary sometimes, to the point of being ruthless. I knew full well what would happen when someone messes with her.

Back to the naming problem, it wasn't like I didn't know her name, or was trying to make fun of her. Haira wasn't a bad name at all, but I just felt more comfortable by calling her prez. It is my fault calling her that, and it's clear that she has a problem with that. She always points out at me whenever I call her prez. I didn't want to make her mad, so I tried really hard to set my mind to call her right. But calling her prez six out of ten times, at this point it was almost a reflex to me.

"That's for me to worry about. Or what, do you WANT to clean up as well?"

"Nuh uh! I'm gonna do it when I HAVE to, ok?"

I turned my head and avoided eye contact, in case she really made me do it. I was already exhausted for the day, I didn't need more work on top of that.

"Well that's one way to say no. Then get going. And don't be late for school tomorrow. Got it?"

Prez looked at me and sighed while shaking her head, like a mother pathetically looking at her child who was in trouble. After telling me the second time to go home, she got back to mopping the floor. I know it wasn't my business, but I felt sorry for refusing to help out.

I promised myself to help her out later, while carrying my bag to get out of the classroom. My body shook the moment I carried my backpack. The straps pressing my aching shoulders hurt more than I thought. When I stepped out to the hallway, I dropped my bag at the floor to try to ease my shoulders. After some quick arm swinging, it felt a lot better than before.

I'm sure I'll past out the moment I lie down in my bed. I don't think I'll be able to talk to Amateratsu. After eating dinner, I'm going to wash up as fast as I can, run to my room and sleep like a baby.

 **[Master, would you like me to give you a massage?]**

I looked down, and Amateratsu was stretching her fingers like she was readying herself. I couldn't understand what Amateratsu was trying to do. According to her, it looks like she wants to help me ease my shoulders. It was sweet of her, but what I don't get is how will she do that, when she has no physical form whatsoever?

"A massage? That would be good, but aren't you like, a card? Is it even possible for you?"

I was half confused, and half curious if a card could actually give someone a massage. Amaterasu tilted her head while looking at me all confused, just like when we first met. But then she clapped her hands and realized that I didn't know half of what she knew.

 **[Oh. You probably won't know this, master.]**

"Well, it's kinda obvious at this point isn't it?"

 **[Well master, you could actually]**

"Ay, Itou! Why are you standing alone in the hallway?"

I sighed the moment I heard that voice. The high tension voice that I've heard so much that I'm sick to death of. And wouldn't you know it, a familiar arm landed on top of my shoulder.

"Argh!... Watch it!"

"Oh, come on. That was just a love tap! You need to apply some pressure in order to heal faster! I mean, I think."

"Oh yeah? Well how about I apply some pressure to your head, Chihiri?!"

I pinched the hand that was on my shoulder. Right next to me was the owner of the arm. A deep brown eyed girl, with short light brown hair. And at the side of her hair, was a hairpin with a red circle and a blue X.

"Ow! Ow! I'm sorry! I give!"

She screamed in pain by her hand being pinched. Hearing her apologize, I let her go. She immediately blew the back of her hand to cool it off, while looking like she was about to cry. I didn't feel sorry. Compared to my shoulder, a light pinch to the hand was nothing.

 **[E, Eh?...]**

Amateratsu was all confused, while looking back and forth to me and the girl. I couldn't blame her. The girl in front of me was the first person she saw, that was overly friendly to me.

In my case, I wish I could take at least a one day break away from her.

"Jeez... That hurt, you know?"

"Yeah, I'm truly sorry. Boo freaking hoo. Where were you? You're not in cleaning duty today, but you looked like one, when you ran out right after sensei left."

"I was chatting with my online friends. I wanted to meet them at Akihabara, but everyone said they're busy. Oooooohh! I really wanted to meet them in real life!"

Thank god. I thought she was doing something productive and normal. But it's Chihiri, so that's highly unlikely.

The girl next to me was Chihiri Kinoshita. At first glance, people think of her as an upbeat girl with a good heart. That's true.

Being in the same classroom as me, she's the mood maker that entertains everyone in class. Getting along with everyone, especially the guys by having a man like personality herself. This is... sort of true. Her face and body was a girl, but her insides was completely, a dude.

Chihiri was like a shadow that I can't run away from. Me and Chihiri's relationship was more persistent than inevitable death. Why am I thinking this?

When Chihiri doesn't talk, she's a very pretty girl that seems faultless in every way. But when she starts talking, you'll know that she's basically a perverted guy, and has no femininity whatsoever. She goes the extra mile by wearing nothing but men's clothes. I've never seen her in feminine clothes, not even once. Even the school uniform that she's wearing was the same as mine.

Not only that, she's a heavy otaku that's obsessed with games, anime and etc. She's damn proud of it, that she doesn't hide anything. She also likes doing meaningless, sometimes impossible challenges at random, and always dragged me along with her. From the first time when we met in fourth grade, I've been with Chihiri for six years. Being with someone like Chihiri for six years, is like riding a crazy roller coaster ride straight out of crazy land.

But leaving that aside, Chihiri was one of my few close friends. Like my parents, she also knew about my ability, and didn't treat me like a monster. She helped me stand up. Live a normal life, when I didn't even believe in myself that I could. Chihiri shaping me who I am right now, wasn't an understatement. In fact, the third voice that I heard in the nightmare, was Chihiri's voice. She was that important to me. And thanks to her, I overcome my fears yet again.

I say that I'm sick of her. But honestly, I'm just grateful for her that she's still friends with me to this very day.

"Uh, Chihiri? I'm kinda tired right now, so I'll see you tomorr..."

"Come on! You and I are going to the card shop!"

Chihiri declared out loud. Obviously not listening to what I just said. Ignoring my will to go home, she firmly grabbed my left hand and tried to drag me. I constantly slapped her hand that was grabbing mine, and barely got her off me.

"Again?! This is the third time we went to a card shop, this week alone! Besides, didn't you already finish your deck? Don't tell me you're going to challenge kids that barely started the game. For god sake, the last time you did that, one of the kids cried their eyes out!"

"W, Well, there WAS a bit of trouble here and there, but it's not like I only go for newbies! And besides, today's the day new boosters are coming out! My Angel Feathers are craving for newcomers!"

 **[A, Angel Feathers?!]**

Amateratsu just got excited for some reason. I guess she doesn't know that Chihiri isn't a pioneer.

Changing the subject, someone needs to do something about Chihiri. Whenever she comes across something vanguard related, her blood gets boiling and she goes full on nuts. The reason that I HAD to start vanguard all over again, was because of this vanguard junkie over here. For all the money she used in vanguard cards, Chihiri was a VVIP customer of all the card shops in Tokyo. I don't exactly know how much she used, but it was enough that every card shop owners should treat her like a queen.

"You're gonna regret spending money like this. Think of your mom for... Oh. I guess that's not a problem for her, and you is it."

As the daughter of a huge company, no way it was.

"Mind you that I only use money that I earned, ok? I'll try to forget that you just doubted me, and generously forgive you! Come on! If you tag along, the generous Chihiri- sama will gladly buy you some too!"

"...You're buying? Well, I guess I could go if that's the case... Wait. What's the catch?

I squinted my eyes on Chihiri to see if she's plotting something. The last time I took her offer, I was forced to go to a winter cosplay event with her. If wearing clothes that weren't suited for warmth in freaking winter wasn't bad enough, it was... a male and female couple theme. Long story short, someone had to be the female, and Chihiri didn't feel like it.

"Come on. You think I'm gonna pull your leg again? It's just a friendly offer, that's all. Itou. Itou? Look at me. Does these eyes look like I'm deceiving you?"

Chihiri held her hands like a nun praying, and looked at me while making sad googly eyes like a whimpering puppy. Sure Chihiri acted all innocent, but it's kinda hard to believe when she's flashing several ten thousand yen in her hands, like a overly evil businessman. I wasn't a mind reader of any sort, but other than her overly cartoony impression, it didn't look like she was plotting something. I guess it's because I was with her for a long time, that I sort of know what she's thinking. Not proud of it though...

Vanguard did have the image of a card game for children, but many adults and teenagers enjoyed the game too. In fact, vanguard's popularity was quite big around the world. There was many TV shows that was vanguard related, and also a huge national and international tournament that opened every season. Heck, there was even famous idols promoting the card game.

I keep saying 'children's card game', but I'm found guilty because I really like the game. Like Chihiri and many other players, I also look forward for new booster packs to come out.

"Oh, all right. I'll go with you."

"Umwhahahahaha! I knew you would say yes!~ You're not gonna regret it!"

Chihiri laughed maniacally like a criminal overmind. Uh... I just want to flick my finger on her all confident forehead. But I need to hold that thought. After all, I'm aiming for the booster packs, that she's gonna pay. It's not too late to act after she buys it!

'Yeah, keep laughing. The more you laugh, the more stronger my finger will be!'

 **[Oh, this is truly a remarkable day! Getting to see two pioneers in a single day! How exciting!]**

Meanwhile, Amateratsu squealed like a fangirl, by thinking Chihiri's the pioneer of the Angel Feather clan. But as we all know. She was only a 'player' using an Angel Feather deck. And also, she didn't have any psyqualia abilities like I do. I hesitated to tell her. Because it'll break her expectations like a baseball thrown to a window.

"All right! We have our destination! Let's set forth to Akihabara!"

"Whoopee... I mean, Whoopee~"

 **"Umwhahahahaha!"**

 **"Shut up, and go home you two!"**

"Owowowowow!"

"T, Time out! Time out pre, I mean, Hai, owow!"

Prez angrily opened the classroom door and pulled each of our ears. We forgot that we were standing right outside the classroom. Not knowing that we were shouting right next to the lion's den.

* * *

The long summer day was coming to a close. A warm summer breeze blew through the city of Tokyo. The blue skies were turning into a warm orange color, and the busy streets of Tokyo was preparing for their night time change.

On one of the tall buildings rooftop. A certain 'thing' was looking down and observed the hundreds of people who were walking the streets. 'It' looked through thousands of people all day, but wasn't able to find a 'target' that fit the bill.

 **"C-C-Current time. 18 ho-hours. 43 minu-u-utes. Sight on Ps-s-syqualia us-s-ser. Z-Z-Z-Zero."**

The thing's body was like a snake. Extremely long and bigger than any snakes that ever existed on earth. It's body was covered in dark colored plates, which made it tough and hard to see if it hid in the shadows.

 **"W-W-Wise to s-save spiritual e-energ-gy."**

"Wh, What the hell?!"

The building's security guard was shocked when finding a giant creature right in front of his eyes. The middle aged security guard didn't know what to do. His body froze up like confronting a tiger. But his instincts knew. The thing in front of him, was ten times more dangerous.

 **"H.. Hic..."**

The guard covered his mouth with his hand. He needed to stay quiet if he wanted to live. The guard was in tears, but managed to slowly walk back to the door that he entered in.

 **Swoop-**

 **Splat!**

Without the man's realization. The thing's tail cut the security guard's head clean off in a single sweep. The man's head rolled to the side of the building. His face still twitching due to rigor mortis. The decapitated body of the guard swung right to left for a few seconds, when finally dropping to the concrete floor. Soaking it with red blood.

 **"D-Disturb-b-bance... Te-e-erminated..."**

The thing kept on observing the streets. But no matter how long it searched. It seemed like it was impossible to find what it was looking for in this huge city.

Until now.

 **"T-T-Target. F-F-Found. Psy-y-yqualia confirmed... P-P-Positive."**

The thing's mechanical eye widened, as it laid it's eyes on the long awaited target. The thing swiftly moved to alert the 'others' as quickly as possible. The memory of the target's sight and location filled the thing's head.

Two high school students walking into a store with glass doors.

One with brown hair. And the other, white.

* * *

 **Hey guys!(If there's actually someone reading this..) Sorry for being kinda late. I went a three day trip with my family, and... it didn't go so well...**

 **Stepping that aside, I don't know how you all think of my fanfic. Since the only way to communicate is through reviews.(And I'm certain that I have zero...) Is it because it's just the start? Or is it because it's different? If you don't like it, can you at least let me know so I could fix it?**

 **I really would like to know the five people who favorited my fanfic.**

 **Well then, Buh Bye.**


	5. Chapter 5- Crawling death

Ten minutes has passed, since we stepped inside the card shop that Chihiri lead us to. I had to explain to Amateratsu, which she was completely lost that every single player in the shop wasn't a pioneer, nor a Psyqualia user.

 **[Oh... She's not a pioneer... Just a person who plays card games... And all these people are...]**

"Yeah... I didn't know what to tell you. You looked really happy, and I didn't want to disappoint you."

 **[No, No. I'm not disappointed, master. Well... Maybe a little, I guess...]**

The glitter in Amateratsu's eyes faded, when she found out that everyone inside the card shop were just normal card game players. It seems that she was really looking forward to meeting a different pioneer.

 **[Hm? Oh look, master! A child using our clan's deck! Let's go watch!]**

"Ok, just give me a sec."

Luckily, Amateratsu got over the disappointment very fast, when seeing several matches where all sorts of clan's units being put to play on the table. While Amateratsu was having fun watching the fights, I explained to her the rules of the game. It was odd to explain her the game's rules, when she's a card that's present in the game. But she's an alien, so it's no surprise.

Where's Chihiri you ask?

"God damn it! Why's there no SPs in these packs?! One Sp! That's all I ask!"

She was in the corner ripping hundreds of booster packs, stacking a mountain of cards of all rarities and booster boxes on her side, while she was trying to find a unique version of a rare card, that would put a hole in a wallet if someone tried.

A high school girl wearing a male uniform. Ripping card packs and stacking it like an obsessive crazy person, was not a sight you could see everyday. I stayed away from Chihiri, and kept watching someone else's fight. To be a part of the attention that Chihiri was making, was too much for me. But that plan failed when Chihiri walked right next to me, looking all devastated.

"Haa... I completely lost... Still, I have more than enough cards to strengthen my deck. So there's that. Therefore, you and I are gonna have a match, Itou!"

"Ok! I'll do it, but please play it quietly! I don't want THIS much attention, all right?!"

I covered my blushed face with my hand and sat down. Chihiri sat at the opposite side and she changed the cards in her deck, with the new cards she got from the booster packs. There was so much cards left over, that her backpack where she put the rest of the cards, looked like it was going to explode.

I pulled out my recent oracle deck and shuffled it as well. Looking at Chihiri's bag, I just hope that it could hold until she gets home.

"Hm? Itou, what's that doing there?"

"Huh? What?"

While we were shuffling each others deck. Chihiri pointed out a card that was in front of me. I looked down, and immediately had butterflies in my stomach. It was Amateratsu's card. When I was shuffling my deck, I forgot to sort her out, and I put her on the table by accident. Amateratsu's card didn't look like any other vanguard card. First, the blue colored layouts on the card was gold. The 'Vanguard' letter on the back of the card was gone, and also the design of the symbol on the back looked completely different. The lines drawn around it were the same, but the round, six edged star symbol, was now a hexagon shaped door.

Do I know what it means? Hell no. But that wasn't the thing I should be focusing on right now.

"That's [CEO Amateratsu], isn't it? What are you doing, forgetting cards like that? Give it here, so I can put it in your deck."

"NoNoNo! I'll do it, so you don't have to..."

"Come on. I'm already shuffling your deck, I might as well put it in while I'm doing it."

When I reached for Amateratsu's card, Chihiri's hand swiftly came in and grabbed Amateratsu before I could.

"Wait. Isn't this supposed to be black and blue? Why is it gold colored?"

"Ah..."

 **[Ah!...]**

Chihiri immediately found out the card's different design. Me and Amateratsu stood completely still. I was in trouble. The card's design wasn't the only thing that was different. At the front, Amateratsu's portrait was actually moving!

I have to make something up, before this whole thing gets worse...

"Y, Yeah! It's... A new sleeve for my ace card!"

 **[M, Master...]**

Amateratsu's face blushed when she heard that I called her my ace card. I'm glad that she likes it, but it really doesn't help with the situation right now!

"A card sleeve? I haven't seen this kind of sleeve before. And why would you put a sleeve, on only one card?"

Oh, of course... Chihiri had all kinds of card game related merchandise, that she's basically an expert on it.

"I wonder if the owner knows about this? I'll borrow this for a second, ok? Hey, boss!"

 **"Stop!"**

Adding one more person was a recipe for disaster. I had no time to explain. I jumped at Chihiri and wrestled her to get Amateratsu back. Chihiri obviously didn't understand what I was doing, but she suddenly became serious for some reason, and refused to give me back my card if I didn't explain.

And of course, we got kicked out of the card shop.

* * *

Ever since we got kicked out of the shop, the sun had faded a lot. Like adding color to a painting, the blue skies were gone, turning into a more warm orange color. A lot of time has passed since we came to Akihabara. It was already half past six, and we just started to leave Akihabara to head home.

"I can't believe we got kicked out. And that was my third favorite shop!"

"Chihiri, If you think about the mess we made, I'm surprised we didn't get banned."

Chihiri quietly looked up while blinking her eyes, like she was trying to recall what happened 5 minutes ago at the card shop. The faces she made while thinking about it said it all. We were the ones fighting, so both of us didn't know how bad we were. I realized it just now, and was so embarrassed that I just wanted to run to a hole and hide.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

Chihiri shrugged her shoulders and admitted. She sighed deeply like the world was going to end. I didn't say anything and just nodded. Truth be told, I really wasn't in the position to talk about it either. Technically speaking, the situation wasn't THAT bad. When I jumped at her to try to get my card back, we fell down at the floor and just happened to roll our bodies around while we were fighting. And when I say fighting, I mean flailing our arms on the ground like we were back in kindergarten.

I managed to get Amateratsu back before Chihiri could see it, but things didn't look so pretty. We knocked down couple of chairs and tables, but thankfully nobody in the shop was hurt because of us. The bad thing was, we caused quite a trouble to both the shop owner and the players. And that we acted more childish than the young kids playing there. The gazes of the kids looking at me all pathetic, really made me rethink my life.

Even after the fiasco, me and Chihiri were allowed to come back any other day. But I think I'll never go there unless I have a second identity.

"Come on, Itou! What's up with you and that card? Why aren't you letting me see it?!"

"Deal with it Chihiri! There's no way I'm going to show you, and that's final!"

After all the trouble, Chihiri still wanted to see my card. Chihiri swiftly moved around me to try to get a glimpse of Amateratsu. I covered Amateratsu with both of my hands, and turned the opposite way whenever Chihiri moved just in case. The safe thing to do was putting Amateratsu inside my pocket. Chihiri would definitely freak out if she sees a living vanguard card. She was already a handful. I can't imagine how annoying Chihiri will be if she figures it out.

"5 seconds! Give me only 5 seconds!"

"Sorry, not falling for that!"

Ugh... Constantly moving in circles are making me sick. That's it. Amateratsu's going inside my pocket. That'll make Chihiri give up.

 **[Uh... Master? Why didn't you recruit any Oracle think tank units?]**

As I tried to put Amateratsu inside my pocket, she carefully and quietly asked me a question. It seemed like she really wanted to check out the new units from the boosters. Her eyes were shining with expectations. After finding out that Chihiri wasn't a pioneer. I guess she put her hopes up to the new oracle units, which did come out in today's booster.

But unfortunately, I had no new cards to show her. It was all Chihiri's cards, not mine.

"Sorry, I kinda forgot..."

 **[Oh. Well, that's okay. I'll have plenty of chances to see them.]**

With a smile, Amateratsu said she was okay, but her voice sounded a little sad. I couldn't lie to her, but It was hard to see Amateratsu's expectations being shattered again. Now I wish I bought at least one booster pack from the store.

"Oh, fine. You win. You can keep your stupid card for yourself."

As if she grew tired of persuading me, Chihiri clicked her tongue as she looked at me with a frowning face. I think Chihiri's more angry because she was all tired and sweaty from all the moving around. Even if it's late afternoon. It was summer after all.

 **[S, Stupid?! Did I do something wrong to make her angry?]**

"No, No! It's just a figure of speech, so don't be upset!"

I slid Amateratsu in my pocket to muffle her voice for a second, and immediately took her out when she was relaxed. I'm beginning to think Amateratsu has a tendency to over react.

It was too late for me to ask Chihiri for the Oracle think tank cards. Even if it was a promise she made, this wasn't the time to tell her.

"Uh... So, Chihiri. What're you going to eat for dinner today? Japanese? Chinese?"

"..."

"..Western food?.."

"..."

Chihiri didn't respond. She looked away from me, while putting both of her hands in her pants pocket and didn't say a word.

While heading back to the Akihabara train station, we stopped at the intersection to wait for the green light. We just missed the green light, so we had to wait a while. A lot of cars drove past us. The sounds of numbers of cars passing by was quite loud. We constantly heard it, while me and Chihiri stayed completely mute.

'Oh, man. I didn't know Chihiri would be this mad...'

The silence between us was killing me. It wasn't like her to be this quiet. Normally, when Chihiri was mad at me, she would just mess me around for a few seconds and be done with it. Seeing Chihiri act like this, made me unsettling. We always talked and joked around whenever we were together. I forgot how awkward it was if either one of us were upset.

I never wanted Chihiri to be upset. I wish I could just show Amateratsu to Chihiri right away. But it wasn't that easy to do.

Nearly two minutes has passed, and still neither of us talked. I was starting to get worried. I felt like I was suffocating from her silence. The mood was awkward beyond repair.

I had to do something. I still can't believe this whole thing started because of a card. I didn't do anything wrong to Chihiri, but right now that wasn't important. At this point, I don't even care. All I want is this ridiculous bickering to end. If she's not saying anything. I will.

"Hey, Chihiri. I'm... sorr"

"Oh right. I almost forgot."

Before I could apologize, Chihiri snapped her fingers and cut me off. My timing skills have done nothing but disappoint me today. Nevertheless, I was glad that Chihiri finally opened her mouth.

Chihiri turned her backpack to the front and opened it. Then she suddenly started to search through the stacks of cards that was inside.

"Ugh... I should have brought my trolley bag for this."

"Hey, Hey. You're dropping some cards."

Chihiri was too busy searching, that some of the cards fell through the open zipper. Chihiri looked like she needed some help. If she let me, I would help her find whatever she's looking for. But she wouldn't tell me anything.

"Aw, shit. Can you help with those?"

"Yeah, I'm on it."

I used both of my hands to quickly catch the cards before they got scratches on them. Then I picked up the cards that hit the floor. Luckily the pavement we were on wasn't so rough, and the fallen cards were unharmed. I couldn't figure out what Chihiri was trying to find. Even risking her valuable cards to go to waste.

After some searching, Chihiri seemed to find what she was looking for.

"Whew, that was deep... Where's the cards that I dropped?"

"Here. Don't worry, I didn't miss anything."

"Thanks. Be sure you don't spill them again, ok?"

"I know."

I carefully put the fallen cards back inside Chihiri's backpack. I was going to apologize to Chihiri, but she didn't seem to be upset anymore. Still, I had to check.

"Chihiri?"

"Yeah?"

"Aren't you um... angry at me?"

"At you? Not at all. Why would I be?"

Chihiri raised her eyebrows, as if she didn't understand what I was talking about. I was confused. I'm glad that she wasn't upset. But I couldn't understand why she kept her mouth shut.

"Huh? Then why did you stay quiet?"

"What? You were talking to me? Sorry, my mind was on something else. What did you say?"

My face became all hot, like it was going to blow up. I covered my face with my hand, and sighed out of sheer ridiculousness. I felt like a complete fool. I was the only one who was worried to death, when Chihiri wasn't even on the same page as me.

"What? What's wrong?"

Not knowing a thing, Chihiri asked me, but in no way am I going to tell her. I had to act like it was nothing. The sooner I forget this embarrassing memory, the better.

"Nothing... So, what did you find in your backpack?"

"Here."

Chihiri held out her right hand. I thought she was offering a handshake, but there was something inside her hand. I didn't know what it was, but I reached out my hand and took it. When I saw it in my hand, I immediately knew what it was. It was a deck of vanguard cards that was wrapped in clear thin plastic. Looking at the first card, it was definitely the new cards that came out of today's booster.

"This is... Did you, sort these out for me?"

"Well, I did say I was going to buy some for you. You did act like a cheapskate back there, but I wasn't going to back out on our agreement. What kind of bro am I, if I can't even keep a promise between bros? Just be sure to strengthen your deck. I want to test my deck with yours at lunchtime."

With a wink, a sweet smile shined on Chihiri's face. I didn't know what to say to her. It was so kind of her to do this for me. But I did know what I SHOULD tell her.

"T, Thanks."

"Don't mention it. In fact, your face already said it."

Chihiri giggled as she pointed my face. Then I realized my cheeks were slightly higher than usual. I didn't even know that I was smiling, until Chihiri pointed it out. I was kinda embarrassed about Chihiri laughing while pointing her finger at me. But Chihiri making me smile, wasn't such a bad thing.

A second ago, we didn't even talk to each other. But now, we were right back to our joking selves. And I was glad that we were.

 **[Master?]**

"What is it?"

 **[I think it's not such a bad idea to reveal myself to her. I still think staying hidden is the right thing. But if it's master's close friend, I do not mind.]**

I was surprised by Amateratsu's suggestion. It was so sudden, when she was the one that requested me to keep her hidden from others. But like she said, Chihiri was the few people that I could really trust. Chihiri would just love to know about this. She WOULD freak out, but she wasn't the type to tell secrets to others.

When Amateratsu was also agreeing with me. I saw no reason not to.

"If that's the case. All right..."

"So~~"

When I was about to lend Amateratsu, Chihiri's eyes suddenly sparked with greed. Twirling her body like a hyperactive salesman. Which translates to scammer.

"You're going to show me your card, right?~"

"Ah."

 **[Ah.]**

Me and Amateratsu quickly figured out what Chihiri's real motives were. The warm feelings I've had for Chihiri, took a straight fall like diving into a pool of liquid nitrogen.

This whole time. She was plotting and waiting for the moment. Too bad she played her cards wrong.

"Yeah, right!"

"Wha?!... Come on! I wanna know what's on that freakin card! I wanna! I wanna, I wanna, I wannaaaa!"

Chihiri's face froze in shock at my rejection. She then grabbed my shoulders and swung me around like a giant rag doll. Chihiri begged to the verge of tears, but it was her own fault. Even if I feel sick from this, there was no way Chihiri would even set her eyes on Amateratsu.

Poor Amateratsu. She's heart broken from discovering Chihiri's black infested soul.

"Shoo."

"All right, that's it! No more Mr nice guy!"

Changing moods in a whim, Chihiri had enough and quickly leaped out and reached for my pockets.

If Chihiri thinks it'll go her way, then oh boy. She's got another thing waiting for her.

Chihiri was fast, but I was faster. I slightly hopped to the side and dodged her hand. Chihiri was leaning forward, and because of that she was full of openings. I easily grabbed on to Chihiri's helpless head, then gave a good squeeze like trying to make watermelon juice.

"Ow! Ow! Oww!"

"You gonna change your mind? Cause I have all day, until you do."

"Ark!... All right! I give up! Let me go!"

I sort of expected she would last a bit longer. She didn't even try to quote Napoleon. But it wasn't like I wanted her to keep going. Thanks to her swift surrender, I didn't have to make pure 100 percent Chihiri juice.

Following Chihiri's request, I stopped the headlock and let her go. Chihiri crouched down on the ground and wrapped her head with her arms. Groaning in pain, along with some sides of nausea. It looked like it really hurt. Which was the whole purpose why I did it.

"You okay?"

"Do I LOOK okay?! Damn it, you won't get away with this!"

"Whoa, Whoa! That's what generic evil guys say! Have some class, Chihiri!"

Chihiri stood up and grabbed me by my collar. Chihiri tried to shake me around, but she was too sick to muster any strength. She let go of my collar, then stumbled into my arms and fell weakly on my chest.

She was like a big baby. I'll even say she looks kinda cute like this.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Ugh... Give me a second, will ya?"

"Heh. You're really hopeless..."

I gently held her head for a couple of seconds. My chest tickled whenever she breathed. Chihiri looked up to my face and glared at me. But It was hard to be intimidated, when I'm basically hugging her.

"All right, that's enough. You're quite heavy, you know."

"Yeah, Yeah, I'll get off."

I gave Chihiri a slight push, and she stepped back on the ground with ease accordingly. Chihiri fixed the front side of her hair, which was a bit messy while she leaned on my chest. After some tinkering, she looked good as new. At least she didn't look sick.

"Feel better?"

"A little. But you're no pillow. Your chest is too hard. This is why breasts are always right. Soft, marshmellowy breasts... Yeah... Now THAT'S a pillow."

"I'll... take that as a compliment. Except for the breast part."

Maybe I should have put a little more effort on the headlock.

 **[FuFuFu.]**

Looking down, Amateratsu was watching us, while being all relaxed. Smiling like a mother watching her kids playing with their friends.

We were totally a couple of kindergartens to her eyes. I can't believe she saw us doing all that childish things. It was easy to forget, that I had a set of eyes watching me, other than Chihiri's.

"D, Did you see all that?..."

 **[Why, yes. It was really heartwarming.]**

Amateratsu nodded her head while answering with a smiling face.

"Ugh... This is embarrassing..."

 **[What do you mean, master? I'm just so glad that you have a friend like Chihiri sama. The friendship between you two was so passionate. At first, I didn't know anything about Chihiri sama, so I was skeptical about her. But now, I know that she's a good person. And that she cares about you, as you care about her. I'm happy that Chihiri sama is master's friend.]**

It was weird how Amateratsu started to formally address Chihiri. I didn't know Amateratsu was constantly thinking about me while she was watching. Not only me, but Chihiri as well. It was good that Amateratsu was no longer suspicious about Chihiri. It would have been difficult if Amateratsu wasn't fond of Chihiri. Chihiri being my best friend and all(In Chihiri's term, Bro.).

"Passionate? You mean passionately try to annoy each other, right?"

 **[But you do like spending time with Chihiri sama, right master?]**

"...Yeah."

Amateratsu gently giggled at my answer. I was sort of irritated by her reaction. Amateratsu didn't look like it, but I couldn't shake the feeling that she was toying with me.

 **[FuFu... Huh? W, What is this? The air is...]**

Amateratsu's smile completely disappered from her face. She suddenly moved her head every which way, as if she was afraid of something. She wasn't kidding around. I could feel Amateratsu's urgency when looking at her nervous face.

"Hey, why are you looking so tense?"

I tried asking her, but she didn't answer me. I had no idea why she was acting this way. I couldn't see anything that looked like trouble. Everything was just normal...

Wait...

"Itou, why are you talking to yourself so much? Did you get another dose of puberty or something? Ugh... Jesus Christ, I think we waited for ten minutes already! Why is the traffic light still red?!"

Chihiri was frustrated by the traffic light not changing. right. She was right. The traffic light was still red for quite a while. If it was red, there should be bunch of cars that were moving past us.

But no. Not one car moved passed us. The traffic lights didn't change because of malfunction. It froze in place. In fact,

 **All of the cars, electronic display boards on the streets, didn't move.**

But that wasn't the weirdest thing. I realized it when I saw the inside of the still cars.

"Ch, Chihiri..."

"Yeah?"

 **"Do you see any people?"**

A few minutes ago, there was a number of people on the other side, waiting for the traffic light, just like us. But now there was no one on the other side. Including the rest of the hundreds of people in this area.

It was like everyone besides us vanished into thin air.

"H, Huh?! Holy shit! N, Now that you mention it. Where did everyone go?! I was looking at the traffic light the entire time. But then suddenly this?! What's going on?!"

"Hell if I know?! Why are we the only ones here?"

 **[! Master! Behind you!]**

"What? Behind me?..."

At Amateratsu's urgent call, I turned my body and quickly looked back. But because I turned to quick, my footing was off, and I slightly wobbled. I never knew that mistake would save my life.

 **Shrt!-**

At the blink of an eye, a sharp metallic sound rang in my ears. With a sudden draft, the sides of my hair was slightly cut. Before I knew it, a 40 centimeter long pincer, stabbed the empty space where I was standing just a second ago. The pincer looked sharp enough to impale a human's body with ease. While I was frozen in fear, I realized the pincer was connected to something.

A huge tail that was covered in a dark violet colored metal plating.

"Wh, Wh, What the hell is that?!"

Chihiri freaked out screaming. She stepped back trying to get away from the tail, even when a streetlight was blocking her back. While I tried to move my frozen legs, I saw a vision.

"Chihiri, move!"

I tried to go to her, but my legs still didn't move. As a last resort, I punched myself in the thigh. I gritted my teeth in pain, but I got my legs to move again. I immediately threw my body to Chihiri, and tackled her to the ground.

At the same time, the tail that attacked us quickly retreated back. Only to horizontally sweep everything that was taller than a meter.

 **BANG!**

With a deafening roar, the thick tail crushed the two cars that was next to us. The car windows shattered. The small broken pieces of glass were scattered everywhere. The car's metal body bent and broke instantly, and flew in to the air like it was a softball. The crushed car flew into the empty store and trashed the whole place.

Luckily. We ducked out of the way, before the tail could reach us.

"Chihiri! You okay?!"

"I, I'm fine!"

While I was checking on Chihiri. The tail that swept the cars retreated back yet again. Me and Chihiri's body shook. That meant it was readying another attack. We both got up and ran to the streets. Covering more room was important, if we were going to dodge whatever is coming our way.

 **Swoosh!**

Me and Chihiri stopped at our tracks, when another tail came flying and blocked the road ahead of us.

"I, Itou! Look!"

"What is it?!"

I looked to to the left, where Chihiri was pointing her finger while she was trembling. About fifty meters away from us, there was someone else besides me and Chihiri. It was a skinny man, wearing a long checked shirt and blue jeans, who was standing in the middle of the street. But something about him seemed off. The man's pupils were all white, and not only was his whole body twitching like crazy. His twitching face was black like he was covered in ink.

The tail that stopped us came from his side. But HE wasn't the owner of the tail.

The 'things' behind him was.

 **"G-G-Gick..."**

Tens of giant centipedes came crawling out behind the man. Just like their tails, their whole bodies were covered in the same metal plating. The lines on their heads that seemed to be their eyes, glowed in dark red. Their two antennas twitched like crazy when they were pointing right at us. The most notable thing about them, was their size. Their long flexible bodies of the centipedes were over four meters long. They crawled towards us, while they shoved away the cars that were in their way with no effort.

Every single one of them were strong enough to break metal like it was nothing.

 **"T-T-Target... G-G-Gick... Confir-r-rmed. S-Suitable... P-Pioneer, confirme-e-ed. P-Pro-o-oceed to c-c-capture."**

"Wh, What are you... things?!"

 **[Master, be careful! They are 'Tail Joe's! Units sent by 'Megacolony'!]**

"Mega... colony?!"

Megacolony was a clan from the vanguard game. But, it was impossible. Those things were real. Not even cards like Amateratsu.

They existed, right here. And they were fully capable of killing us.

W, What is going on?!

* * *

 **Whew, finished! Thank you Lavillant, for giving my first review. It really helped. I fixed the typos that you mentioned before. So double thanks!**

 **If anyone is confused why Amateratsu is acting differently. It's because I completely ignored the vanguard lore, and made my own in scratch. You could see it like the 'war of creation' in chapter 4. So the units in this story will act differently, and will have different backstories that I made.**

 **The reason why I'm doing this, is because I really don't like the lore. If they had a full fledged story, I've got nothing to say. Following a few line of text in monthly Bushi that's considered the unit's 'story', is a complete waste of imagination to me.**

 **I know it would be weird, but I hope it'll be a fun ride for you.**

 **Because we have units that could kill, yo!**

 **P.S:Would really love for some reviews. Please?**


	6. Chapter 6- Hiding in hollow sight

**Now that I think about it, the Tail joe's lines kinda make me think they're rapping lol**

* * *

"I, I, Itou! A, Am I dreaming here?! How are Vanguard units alive like tha, uph?!"

I quickly covered Chihiri's mouth with my hand. I held my breath, trying to make as little sound as possible as I carefully looked around. My body jumped. One of the Tail joes was dangerously close to us. We could see the long giant body of the centipede, creepily slithering right outside the alleyway, where me and Chihiri was hiding.

We were almost in the middle of the alleyway. There were only two openings in this alleyway. Judging by their speed, if even one of them entered, it was almost impossible for us to escape.

Luckily, it was just passing us. The Tail joe kept moving forward until we couldn't see it's long metal body. When the coast seemed clear, I removed my hand from Chihiri. Me and Chihiri finally exhaled, and we both breathed in as much air as possible. It felt like my life span just decreased. My heart pounded so fast, my whole body couldn't stop trembling.

"Hah... Sorry. Ha... T, That was louder... than I... ha... thought... Thanks... for stopping me..."

"D, Don't... sweat it. Why don't we... hide here... for a while?"

"A, Agreed..."

Still gasping for air, Chihiri nodded her head for approval. Right after that, she immediately plopped to the ground like her legs just gave in. I also sat down on the ground to take a breather. We both leaned back on big trash bins, that was almost half of a adult's height. The alleyway we were in was full of trash bins. It was perfect for hiding our bodies from the Tail joes.

With all the trash bins around, the alleyway was a little stinky, but it didn't smell that bad. Also, since we had bigger things to worry about, we quickly forgot about the smell.

"Shit... If it weren't for your visions, we would've been dead already!"

"Yeah..."

Leaving my visions aside, it was sheer luck that we survived from all those Tail joes. Over twenty of Tail joes relentlessly chased us around and around, like a swarm of hungry ants. Me and Chihiri didn't have a moment to stop and kept on running. Not only did they chase us from the ground. They even sticked to the building's walls and chased us that way.

While we ran away from them, their deadly tails came flying towards us. With my visions and a streak of luck, we managed to dodge them. But the tails that missed us destroyed whatever object that was in it's way.

Metal or concrete, it didn't matter. Their tails broke everything.

The longer we ran, our bodies started to get exhausted. Unlike us, the Tail joe's metal bodies didn't show any signs of fatigue, and came at us non stop with full force. It was only a matter of time before they caught up. When my legs and visions stopped working, I thought it was the end for both of us.

"Hah... I don't think I'll be able to outrun them again.."

"Same her..."

 **Tat! Tat! Tat! Tat!**

We both stopped talking at the sudden sound. The sound of metal scratching concrete, wasn't far from here. Something was quickly coming this way, as the metal sounds was getting faster and faster like an insane drum beat.

"Chihiri! Another one's coming!"

"Shit! Didn't they already search this place?!"

"Who cares?! Just hide!"

I quickly tossed an empty cardboard box to Chihiri. While she hid inside the box, I hid myself behind another trash bin. Unlike the one I hid before, the one I chose to hide smelled awful. It clearly wasn't emptied for a very long time. I felt like I was going to hurl just by getting close to it.

The sound was dangerously close. I didn't have time to pick another one. I quickly covered my nose with my hand and tried my best to endure it.

 **"P-Proceed t-t-o search a-a-area sev-v-v-ven."**

One Tail joe quickly appeared in front of the alleyway. The Tail joe turned it's body towards us, like it was trying to enter the alleyway. Seeing it coming close, made my legs tremble like crazy. Yelling me to run away, before it's too late.

As it was going to enter, the Tail joe stopped. It turned it's long metal body around, and looked back away from the alleyway. The Tail joe stood in front of the entrance. It's head moved right and left regularly like a surveillance camera. Looking closely at the streets and the buildings windows like a hawk searching for it's prey.

'Whew... Talk about dodging a bullet... But that thing being this close is dangerous...'

The distance between us and the Tail joe, was barely six meters apart. Having a killing machine that close, I wasn't even able to breath and gulp properly. The Tail joe changing it's mind, was a real life and death situation to us.

But with one problem gone, another one came along. The Tail joe was blocking the entrance with it's body, which was also our way out that was fairly close to us. If one more showed up to find us, we were in real trouble.

'I guess it's useless to hope they'll 'malfunction' again.'

When the Tail joes was this close to catch us. Against all odds, we managed to escape and still be alive at this moment. But it wasn't something that we did to them. It was something that 'happened' to them.

When we were about to be caught, the twitching man behind the Tail joes suddenly screamed in agony, as he wrapped his head with his hands. At the same time, every single Tail joes helplessly fell to the ground. Their metal bodies twitched like they were malfunctioning, while letting out a deformed shriek, as if they were suffering from something.

We didn't understand what was happening, but it was the perfect opportunity, and the two of us ran as far as we can, while the Tail joes couldn't even lift themselves from the ground.

When Chihiri fell to the ground, we both knew we couldn't walk another step. While helping her up, we heard the crawling sounds of the Tail joes getting louder and louder. With no place to run, we found this alleyway and decided to hide here before they came.

My skin crawled when I saw the whole street being completely covered with the herd of Tail joes. It was like seeing a whole sea made of gross bugs. Seeing all of them moving at top speed, I thought it would take minutes until they came back. But they knew that we couldn't have gotten very far. While we were just starting to take a breather, they came back in mere seconds and started to search the area.

And kept searching for us ever since.

 **Kreeeek-**

"Urgh!..."

An ungodly sound messed up my concentration. I frowned at the disturbing sound coming from the Tail joe, while it moved it's head left and right. Every time the Tail joe moved, the sound of creaking metal echoed from it's body. Calling the sound 'unpleasant' was an understatement. To our ears, it was like listening to a nail constantly being scratched on a chalkboard.

It was also fear inducing, since it meant a Tail joe was close to us. The temptation to cover our ears was strong. Despite that, we had to endure the fear, when the obnoxious sound was the only way for us to know where they are. But the biggest reason was to use our hands to cover our mouths. Because the two of us weren't sure that we had the will to not scream.

 **"A-Area seven, d-d-d-disap-pointing.'**

"When is that thing gonna move?..."

"I don't know..."

Chihiri slightly lifted her box, and asked me as quietly as she can through the box's opening. I didn't know why she was asking me, when I had no answers of my own. Although, Tail joe didn't seem to know that we're here. There was no reason to keep looking around if it found us. But I wasn't so sure. Tail joe wasn't moving from this spot for almost ten seconds. We wanted it to go somewhere else, but the Tail joe kept looking, while it stood still like a rock.

The only thing hiding me and Chihiri was the trash bin in front of us. If it heads inside the alleyway, it was game over for us.

 **"T-Target s-s-sighting... Z-Zero."**

Just when I thought we were gonna be stuck here. The Tail joe looked like it finally decided to move. Seeing it's long body moving, me and Chihiri sighed quietly in sweet relief.

Or so it seemed.

 **"W-W-Wait."**

""Shit!...""

Another Tail joe showed up to the alleyway. When we finally thought we could relax, me and Chihiri had to crouched down as low as we could. The Tail joe that was supposed to leave, turned right back and stared at the second one's face, putting it's head on the side as if it was wondering why it was called. This was bad. One Tail joe was bad enough. If there were two, it was almost certain that they'll find us.

 **"W-W-What is the m-matter?"**

 **"H-H-Have you f-f-finished the search o-on this p-p-place?"**

 **"A-Affirmative. About to l-leave to n-n-new locat-t-tion."**

The two Tail joes twitched like an unstable mad man every second they talked, and the screeching metal noises coming from it was worse than before. Hearing it this close was torture to my ears. It was so irritating, that I hated them so much more than I already did.

 **"I s-see. B-B-But, y-you did no-o-ot s-s-see e-e-everything."**

 **"W-What do you m-m-mean?"**

The other Tail joe's eyes glowed in a bright red light. A menacing smirk sprouted on it's face, as it widely opened it's teethless mouth. The Tail joe looked directly to our direction. Like a child who found it;s toy, the Tail joe's head slowly entered the alleyway. as it hummed static noises like it was coming from a broken radio.

'No... No, No, No, No!'

My legs froze in it's tracks. There was barely four meters left before it bumped into us. Hiding was out of the question, and it was too late to run away. The Tail joe's smirking face was slowly coming towards us, as the static humming noise coming from it's mouth, echoed through the alleyway like a small cave.

 **"H-Hah!"**

The Tail joe let out a screeching cry. Like a hundred crows crying at once, the loud, deformed sound of the Tail joe deafened my mind. I closed my eyes shut and waited for the inevitable.

 **Crack!**

Hearing a completely different sound than I thought, I opened my eyes in confusion. Something was smashed by the Tail joe. But it wasn't me or Chihiri. It was something that wasn't made of flesh. The deafening sound the Tail joe made, quickly got smaller as if it wasn't in the alleyway anymore. Breathing a small gulp of air, I carefully tilted my head to the right to see what happened.

What I saw made me speechless. In a completely different reason.

 **"L-L-Look. P-P-Perfect sh-hot without l-l-looking."**

The Tail joe happily wiggled it's body. In the end of it's tail, a damaged Izakaya sign that said 'sake' was dangling on it. The Tail joe's pincer completely penetrated the middle part of the sign, and the sharp metal end came out from the other side. The sign was crushed beyond recognizable. It looked like a car just smashed into it. But it was most likely due to the immense force when it was penetrated.

 **"Oh. I-Impressive. A-A-Admirable i-indeed."**

The other Tail joe clapped it's forty small metal legs simultaneously, greatly praising the one in front of it. The two Joes left the alleyway, as they laughed out loud like a broken radio until we couldn't hear them anymore.

I was left completely dumb founded of what I just saw. The Tail joe didn't move his head in the alleyway, because he saw us. He moved his head, because he wanted to see the other way, to show another Tail joe a stunt move with only his tail.

We survived. But after realizing that, I was so ashamed that I couldn't even lift my head up. I felt like an idiot, that I almost cried because of two dumb bugs.

"Itou!... Are they gone?..."

Chihiri quietly lifted her box. She cautiously looked sideways to see if the Tail joes were gone, like a baby deer caught in the headlights.

"Yeah, they're gone. I don't know if any others are around, but for now I think we're in the clear."

"Really? Thank god... I was so scared, I thought I was going to die of a heart attack! Especially when I can't see and can only hear their damn noises! Brrgh!... Straight up nightmare fuel!"

Chihiri threw away the box that she was hiding, as if taking off a fur coat in summer. She stretched her legs and her back, that would have been pretty tense from crouching inside a box. Not only that, the fear of death would have made Chihiri's muscles cramp up even more.

"Hey, what's wrong with you? You have a kinda 'self ashamed' aura around you. What did that two bugs do exactly?"

"...Nothing."

"Really? But I heard nothing but their ear gouging sounds all the way. They must have done somethin..."

"I told you. It was nothing. They left, and now they're gone. Let's just be happy that those GOOD FOR NOTHING PIECES OF BUG SHIT, are not our problem, OKAY?~"

"O,Okay."

Seeing me grab onto a trash bin lid, and grabbing it so hard like I was strangling a sworn enemy, while shaking my upper body like I was going to break it in half, Chihiri backed up and nodded her head several times without further questions. An awkward smile saying 'I'm scared shitless' on her face, while her body trembled in fear like a little girl who saw a ghost.

Nobody must know about the truth. Except me, and god above.

"Ugh... I still can't believe this, Itou... If they catch us... We're going to die, right?"

After leaning against the wall, Chihiri slid and collapsed to the ground as if her legs just gave in. Chihiri frowned her face for a second, but besides that she didn't acknowledge that it hurt, acting like it didn't matter. Chihiri surrounded her head with her hands, and she firmly grabbed her hair like she was suffering from a headache. Her hands shook as the straight brown strains of hair surround her own fingers.

"This... This is some sort of nightmare, right? F, For playing to much vanguard, or something..."

Chihiri's body was constantly trembling, as if she was freezing cold. When I saw her stretched out legs shaking like crazy, Chihiri noticed me and she swiftly folded her legs, like she was trying to stop the trembling. It was clear that Chihiri tried her best to stay calm.

But even if she tried to hide it, her whole body shook, and the fear around her was thick as a black fog to not notice.

Chihiri didn't have to hide anything. Unlike her usual bravado self, seeing the Tail joes in real life didn't make her excited. Like everyone else, she was legitimately scared for her life. Anybody in this situation would be as scared as she is, or worse.

I understood how she was feeling, I really did. And that is why, I had to snap her out of it.

"If you were really dreaming, you would have already waken up by now. Also, it wouldn't have hurt when you skinned your knee."

"T, Then, they could be holograms or illusions... Really... real like ones..."

"Are you listening to yourself? Do you really think a hologram can cause THAT much damage, let alone flung a car that weighs at least half a ton?"

As I continued to prove her wrong, Chihiri raised her head and looked at me all annoyed. She slightly frowned, giving me a look saying 'stop it.'. But I folded my arms and pretended that I didn't see her.

As if that was the final straw, Chihiri leaped from the ground, then furiously walked towards me. Her feet slammed the ground with anger, like she was squashing a bug with every step. Seeing her frowning face directly in front of me all irritated and angry, I half expected Chihiri would punch my face the moment she was close.

Thankfully, Chihiri just yelled at me. She also didn't forget the danger of our situation, and toned down her voice, even when she was angry enough to shout her lungs out.

"What the hell, Itou? Do you have some kinda grudge against me? If this is some kind of joke to you, it's really irritating!"

"A joke? Well, look who's talking! Aren't you making a fun of yourself, when you're trying to deny everything like it's not really happening?"

I grabbed Chihiri's shoulders and slightly pushed her away from me. Chihiri squirmed her body to try to get my hands off, but she failed and kept moving her head, as if she was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

Chihiri didn't get away from me, because she was physically weak. She wasn't stronger than me, but she was at least strong enough to push me away.

"I... I know that, but!..."

"No buts! Face it, Chihiri. No matter how much you want to deny it, THIS is all really happening. So, wake up!"

Chihiri clenched her fists in anger, shaking uncontrollably like she was ready to hit me. Her angry glares flew on to me like sharp arrows. She gritted her teeth, like she wanted to yell at me, telling me that I'm wrong. But Chihiri couldn't get a word out of her mouth, and stayed quiet like she had nothing to say.

Chihiri stopped moving as if she gave up on getting away. I felt no strength from her arms. Her eyes and reaction was down right depressing. Seeing how powerless she was right now, I knew it was meaningless to keep grabbing on to Chihiri, and I let her go.

The moment I let go of Chihiri's shoulders, her legs were all loose and she helplessly stepped backwards, as if she was going to fall down on the ground again.

"Whoa, Whoa... Easy there..."

Before she fell backwards, I quickly grabbed on to Chihiri's hand and pulled her back to me. Trying to make Chihiri comfortable, I carefully sat her on the cardboard box that she used to hide.

I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't muster the courage to talk first. Chihiri didn't say a word, and it wouldn't be surprising if Chihiri never talked to me again. I felt really terrible, treating my best friend like this.

But I felt it was necessary to remind her the truth, even if I had to be rough to Chihiri. If there's one thing I've learned inside the 'nightmare'.

Was that you can't move forward, unless you confront the truth. No matter how hopeless it is...

"Hah, jeez..."

Chihiri finally opened her mouth. Looking at her, she didn't frowned at me when I saw her. She didn't say it so I wasn't sure, but it was safe to say she was no longer upset. But she was far from relaxed. Chihiri sighed deeply like she was trying to divide the ground with it. It looked like she still had trouble fully grasping our current situation.

Although, to her defense. It did sound pretty ridiculous.

"Seriously... Over twenty giant bugs that are out to get us... This is like a bad joke..."

"Chihiri..."

"Look, Itou. I'm not trying to deny the truth. Well, I did a second ago, but not now. It's just... a little hard to understand this whole thing, you know?"

"...Yeah. I know."

"Man, I WISH i was crazy right now. Then at least some of these things would have made sense."

Chihiri chuckled to herself as she fixed her hair, which was slightly tangled when she grabbed hold of it. Chihiri still wished this whole thing wasn't real. But this time, she just 'wished' it wasn't real and didn't actually believe it. She was starting to get a grip on reality. It wasn't much of a change, but it was at least a good one.

"Hey, Itou. Aren't YOU scared? You're acting like this whole thing is completely normal to you."

"...Being scared doesn't get us anywhere, does it?"

I answered her question right away. However, the truth was far more complicated than the simple answer.

Chihiri was looking at me like I wasn't shaken up by the whole thing. But I was just as scared as she was. I didn't look like it, because I was pinching my thighs to pretend I wasn't scared. If I didn't, I would've fell down way faster than Chihiri. If I haven't met Amateratsu, and didn't know about Cray and it's units, I might have been the one who would have freaked out, not Chihiri.

Because of that, I had to endure. No matter how scared I was, I had to act 'brave'. If I didn't, there was no way out for the both of us. The Tail joes said 'Pioneer confirmed', which meant they were after me. And Chihiri who had nothing to do with this, was caught in the crossfire, just because she was next to me.

I swore to myself. That I'll get her out of this mess, no matter what. Even if I die trying.

"So cheer up, Chihiri. We'll definitely get out of this. And besides, what's gonna happen to your 'motto'', if you stay down like this? We can't have that, can we?"

Seeing me being serious would just make her worry, so I gave her a big smile while I held out my right hand. Chihiri looked at my face, then stared at my hand in front of her for a couple of seconds, like she was seeing something on my hand.

 **Tup!**

Soon after that, Chihiri suddenly laughed and firmly grabbed on to my hand. Through my hand, I could feel Chihiri grabbing it with quite the strength, that equals guys of the same age. Completely different from her powerless state that she was just in.

"Yup! You're god damn right! I can never let my motto, 'Game over's are for losers' go to shame!"

I pulled Chihiri's hand and she stood up from the ground in one go, like a roly poly. After she let go of my hand, I finally felt blood running through my hand again. I didn't know she was holding my hand that tight, until now. Chihiri smiled with so much energy that it felt like her face was the sun. I saw her energetic smile so many times, that I got tired whenever I was with Chihiri.

It was loud, it was distracting, it was annoying, and it was the brightest and warmest smile I've had the privilege to see everyday. In my nightmare, it might have been only natural for Chihiri's voice to show up to keep me going.

"I really acted like a wimp, didn't I? Uuuu... Why did I do that?..."

"Come on, it wasn't THAT bad? We all have our moments denying things that we don't like."

"But I'm NOT the every man! I'm the GREAT Chihiri! I'm supposed to overcome my hardships like a boss, and be awesome!"

At this point, I was loss of words. Chihiri was extremely embarrassed, and overreacting on her previous action. She mumbled regrets as she constantly scratched the back of her head. Not only was Chihiri's cheeks turned red like tomatoes, she groaned while wildly shook her head sideways like she was trying to forget a traumatic event.

"Sure..."

I raised my eyebrows in suspicion, for the 'great Chihiri'. This was what's commonly known as, confronting one's 'darkest timeline'. She just needed some time alone. But there was no way I was getting close to her, while she was mentally suffering for different reasons. I just wished that it wasn't traumatic enough for Chihiri, so that she could forget about it, and not be stuck on her memory for the rest of her life.

When it seemed like Chihiri was finished coping, she grabbed my shoulders and looked at me with sincere eyes.

"Itou, I have a favor to ask you."

"As long as it's not anything weird. Which you do 90 percent of the time."

"Uuu... It's not like that. It's just... If I act weak again, I want you to punch me out of it."

"What? You serious?"

It sounded like a weird request, but Chihiri wasn't laughing at all. She was truly serious about it.

"I mean it. If we're going to make it out, we BOTH have to be strong. I'd rather die than be a liability. Especially to you."

Every word that she said was sincere. I didn't have to listen to another word to figure out she wasn't joking around. Chihiri might think she's a liability, but she wasn't at all.

I thought I had to step up to get both of us out of here. But after that speech, Chihiri was stepping up so much, I was legitimately worried that I might be a liability to Chihiri.

"But don't hit me too hard, ok?"

"Hah! You got it."

I would be lying if I wasn't proud of her.

* * *

 **Whew, finished!**

 **Two high school students in a ghost town, surrounded by giant centipedes! What could go wrong?~**

 **I recently knew that there's no 'action' categories in the genre selection. I wonder if it's same in other stories, or is it because this is a story about card games.**

 **It's really weird that this is a fan fic about CFV, and there's still no cardfights.**


	7. Chapter 7- Laying low In the grave

"So, now that we're on the same page, we should talk about what we're going to do."

"You mean how to survive against giant metal centipedes, right? Well, I wish we had some BIG guns to fight them, but they'll probably take it like BB pellets."

Chihiri's Meaningless wish fulfillment was meaningless. However the latter part of what Chihiri said, was sadly close to the truth.

Chihiri finally got over her fear, but our situation didn't get any better. In fact, nothing has changed besides morale. We still had a huge problem of surviving and escaping the swarm of Tail joes.

Luckily, for the time being the Tail joes weren't around for quite a while. It would make sense if they were searching the whole Akihabara, which meant we had a fair amount of time on our hands. We needed a good plan before this whole thing get's worse.

"First, let's talk about the current problems. Which there's... a bunch of them. I hate to say this, but running away from them looks impossible. They're machines and we're just normal humans, the physical gap between us is too high. They'll move for days and probably won't be tired at all. And solely hoping that another 'malfunction' to happen to them is just suicide."

While leaning against the wall, Chihiri nodded her head in agreement.

"I agree. Plus they attack with their tails, and that's another disaster. Even if you use your visions, Itou. I guess it'll be hard to avoid them all, right?"

"Yup. Like I said, impossible."

At first, I was too busy running for my life, that I didn't think much about the Tail joes and just thought we were lucky. But when hiding in the alleyway and seeing the Tail joes swarming past us, I then realized that we weren't simply lucky. Our lives were actually dangling by a thread, and one wrong move would have doomed us both.

We were extremely lucky, almost to the point of using up a lifetime worth of luck. If we wanted to live, it was necessary to figure out things as soon as possible. We couldn't afford another wrong move when our life was on the line.

"Another one is that, there's no people around. We can't call for help, and since there's only two of us here, it'll be much easier for them to find us than inside a crowd."

Although personally, I was glad that there was no people. It would've been a bloodbath if there were crowds of people on the streets. Of course it was bad for us, but at least we didn't have to see any innocent people die. Me and Chihiri would lose our minds, if we saw hundreds of dead corpses lying cold on the streets.

While I was thinking, suddenly a question came up to my mind.

"Why did people disappear in the first place?... When I was giving you a headlock, there was over a hundred people around us, There's no way that many people could just vanish instantly..."

"...Maybe it has something to do with the Tail joes."

"This, with them?"

Suddenly, Chihiri looked directly at me and came up with an unusual opinion. I blinked in silence as I thought about it for a second. It was odd to me. I didn't think the Tail joes were capable of such a thing, but it looked like Chihiri was thinking quite differently.

Hearing her opinion, I got curious and asked her right away.

"Why's that?"

"Well, you did say that people suddenly disappeared when you headlocked me. And right after that the Tail joes appeared. Don't you think the timing's a little too perfect? Oh, and about the headlock? That REALLY freakin hurt! What, were you trying to blow up my head? If you were, then DAMN! You've got some muscles!"

"...Is this really the time to discuss that?"

"Hey, you know how I roll. I forget my studies, but I never forget grudges."

Without a single thought, Chihiri admitted that she sucks at studying, saying it with no regret whatsoever. Chihiri was already back to her 100 percent normal self. If I knew she'd be back this fast, I would've helped her a minute later. I didn't know if I should feel sad or be worried, when an idiot admits itself that it's an idiot.

"Ugh... I'm sorry I gave you a headlock, like I was going to pop your head. O' forgive me great Chihiri sama."

"Uhum! That's better! Apology excepted!"

Posing like an arrogant king, Chihiri nodded her head in satisfaction, looking at me like I was her proud servant. It didn't mind. Since I didn't feel sorry, and the sincerity of my apology was below ten percent. Chihiri also knew that, but she was satisfied that I said it in a flattering tone.

The best way to shut up an idiot, was to throw it a bone.

"As I was saying. The people disappearing and the Tail joes appearing after that, I think the bugs are using some kind of barrier to draw away people except us."

"A... barrier? The Tail joes? I don't know, Chihiri..."

I gave Chihiri a doubtful look, while I crossed my arms and tilted my head in confusion. The Tail joes were no doubt strong, but they didn't look like the 'sophisticated' type to make barriers(In other words, they looked dumb). Moreover, there was no evidence to prove that there's a barrier at all.

"Hear me out. With all the people gone, it's the perfect hunting ground for the Tail joes. Who would do this, unless the guys that are hunting us right now? Also, how are you so sure that they CAN'T make barriers? We don't know anything about them, besides they're strong as an elephant, and hunting us down like the world's most dangerous yandere fangirl(If only they were hot girls...). For all we know, they have a lot of surprises other than brute strength."

I placed my hand on my chin, and carefully thought about what Chihiri just said. Taking out Chihiri's delusion, with no proof it was all just assumptions. Still, for an assumption Chihiri made some good points. It was a long shot, but Chihiri's theories was worth thinking about.

At least it was better than my guess, which was nothing.

"For someone who was just powerless to do anything, you think quite fast, Chihiri. Were you thinking about the Tail joes the from the start?"

"Well... not exactly. Let's just say I had an 'inspiration'."

"An inspiration? From where?"

"Why, my favorite anime of all time, of course! You know, where they use barriers to make a completely separate dimension, and people are excluded because of that? What was it called? Right! A reality..."

"Yeah, Yeah... I get it..."

I placed my hand on my face, wishing that she was just joking. I wanted to believe that Chihiri thought of it all by herself. But at the same time, I half expected that when I saw Chihiri's eyes glitter, when she mentioned the word 'barrier'. I guess her way of coping fear, was to think that she was inside an anime.

And how fitting, as someone who watched the show,(Or should I say, 'persuaded' to watch by you know who) it was pretty dangerous for the characters.

As much as I wanted to scold Chihiri until she begged me to stop, I said nothing to her. Despite the ridiculous reason, at least it helped Chihiri to come up with something useful. Even though it came from something that wasn't even real.

"Still... I guess our reality isn't so 'real' anymore, is it? I still can't believe Vanguard units are coming to life..."

"Tell me about it..."

I had to agree on Chihiri. We had a lot to take in. Knowing that a far away planet called Cray exists, and the hundreds of units drawn on the cards are also real. And they can come to life, which they're extremely powerful when they do.

I had a lot of questions inside my head. For instance, if Vanguard was real, did that make the company behind it connected to Cray? Is the person who thought of the story, actually from Cray? Is everyone in the company an alien? Will I get beaten up if I do an E.T impression in front of them?

You know, some minor things.

'Hang on a second...'

When our ideas weren't going anywhere, a sudden realization came to me, like a flash of light. Me and Chihiri were trying to figure out this tangled up mess all by ourselves. Chihiri's theories were decent, but that was about it. Our situation wasn't going to change with theories alone.

We racked our brains, even though there was an expert on these things, right inside my pocket. If there was anyone here who knew full well about Cray and it's units, it was Amateratsu. If I asked her, I was almost certain that we would hear some crucial information, that could help us survive.

"Psst... Amateratsu. I need to ask you something..."

After taking a deep breath in case of stuttering, I slightly tapped my pocket with my index finger and quietly called out to Amateratsu. But for some reason, Amateratsu wasn't responding to my call.

"Amateratsu?"

I asked her a second time, but there was still no answer from her. I was getting nervous. I worried if the phenomenon that caused the people around us to disappear, also gave some bad effects on Amateratsu.

I couldn't wait for her to respond anymore, and quickly pulled Amateratsu out of my pocket, so I could check if she's okay. When Amateratsu was in my hand, I hastily turned my eyes to see the front side of the card. Thankfully, Amateratsu was rolling her eyes and moving just fine.

It was worrying when she was still quiet, even when I was looking right in front of her. Amateratsu was moving her head left and right. Her mouth was slightly open, and Amateratsu's widely open eyes were shaking, like she was trying not to blink. She seemed a little too tense. But besides that, Amateratsu didn't look like she was affected by anything.

This time, I pulled Amateratsu's card close to my face and called her again.

"Amateratsu? Hey, are you listening?"

[Huh? Wha, master?! W, When did you pull me out of your pocket? A, And putting me close to your face is... so sudden!]

When our eyes connected, Amateratsu almost screamed and jumped back like she really just noticed me. Unlike her serious look a moment ago, Amataeratsu's cheeks blushed and was unable to focus her eyes on one place. She stuttered her words and asked me dozens of questions in a single breath like an experienced rapper.

"That's because you weren't listening. I called you three times already!"

[O, Oh... I'm truly sorry master. I guess I was concentrating on the Tail joes too much, that I couldn't pay attention to anything... P, Please forgive me!]

"You don't have to apologize. I just want to ask you something."

Amateratsu kept apologizing to me like she committed some kind of crime. If I didn't tell her to stop, she would have lowered her head until the her sun ornament fell down. Seeing her sincerely apologizing on a small thing, made me look like I was the bad guy.

I already knew one person who was hard to deal because of this. I didn't need another one to unintentionally guilt my soul.

[Of course! If it's anything in my knowledge, I will happily answer your question, master! What do you want to ask me?]

"Okay, um... Can the Tail joes set up some kind of barrier? Like, barriers that can exclude people maybe?"

[Yes. More specifically, it excludes humans with weak spiritual energy. Unless it's a Psyqualia user who can use spiritual energy properly, or has an above average spiritual energy pool, every living being who sets foot inside the barrier gets excluded from this dimension.]

"Whoa. Then what happens to the people who gets excluded?"

[You don't have to worry, master. The excluded people are sent to an alternate dimension, that is completely identical to the inside of the barrier. The people act and think like they normally would with no harm. If they step outside the boundaries of the barrier, they would teleport back to their own dimension and go along their way.]

"Well, that's handy. I was worried if people might get hurt because of all this."

With Amateratsu's answer, I placed my hand on my chest and sighed in relief. We were still in trouble, but I felt ten kilograms lighter, now knowing that other people were out of harms away. It would have been absolute chaos if there were people around. With the barrier up, at least it meant innocent people were safe.

"So does everything come back if the barrier's gone?"

I was hoping that Amaterastsu would say yes. But Amateratsu answered my question by shaking her head. Seeing her say no, was starting to get me worried.

[I'm afraid, no. Anything except living things are a different story inside the barrier. If a non living object, such as cars get damaged inside the barrier, it will stay damaged. However, the other dimension doesn't get affected by this while the barrier is intact. Once the barrier is gone, the people inside the barrier would come out unharmed. But you need to put everything where it was if you don't want to cause complete chaos. Such as seeing an unscathed building, being in rubble the very next second.]

"So what you're saying is. Inside the barrier, people will be okay, but damages caused on non living objects will stay, even when the barrier is down. Am I getting it right?"

[Yes. That's right.]

"Okay, I guess property damage is going to be quite a thing."

I slightly nodded, while I pieced everything what Amateratsu just told me inside my head. Strangely enough, I wasn't that worried on the downsides of the barrier. The property damage caused by the Tail joes were massive, and people could die if they return, and they're inside a building that's on fire. But to be honest. Besides the latter, I really didn't give a shit in someone else's stuff being broken. My mental capacity had better stuff to worry about.

"Then, Amateratsu. I understand why I'M here. Why on earth is Chihiri here too?"

[I was afraid you would ask me that, master. To be honest, I don't understand why Chihiri sama's here with us as well. The only explanation is that she's a Psyqualia user, or that she has a high spiritual energy pool. But I don't feel any strong or above average level of spiritual energy from her. You also said that she's not a Psyqualia user. Didn't you, master?]

"Yeah. I've known Chihiri for seven years, and I never seen her use any kind of ability like I do."

I was dead certain. For seven years, not one time have I seen Chihiri having, or using an abnormal ability like mine. Sure, she did a lot of weird stuff, but it was only for her enjoyment, and nothing was beyond human limits. I was the only one being called a monster. She did get called names like that, but it was because she was hanging out with me, and calling her names calmed down eventually. To my knowledge, there was no way that Chihiri was a Psyqualia user. But if I WAS certain. Chihiri wouldn't be here with me. It was hard to deny something that was right in front of me.

'IS she?... Maybe she's here, because she was in contact with me. Or is it because she's not a Psyqualia user, and just have a lot of spiritual energy? Then she would be able to do something that everybody can't, if she did have that lot...'

A bunch of questions entered my head. I looked to my right, and saw Chihiri pouting her lips while looking around for stuff that would be useful. I was afraid to even ask her. If Chihiri was really a Psyqualia user, then everything I knew about her would change forever. It meant she was hiding it from me, when I told her about who I am.

"Let's... not talk about that now, okay?"

[Are you sure, master?]

"Yeah."

Deep down, some part of me wanted to ask Chihiri in person. It wasn't like I didn't believe in Chihiri. But I just couldn't risk my best friend's image, whom I known for seven years, to change into someone completely different.

[Do you have any other questions?]

Following my request, Amateratsu dropped her questions about Chihiri. I was thankful that she did, but my next question was a sensitive one. My fingers kept fidgeting, while I looked at Amataratsu and the outside of the alleyway back and forth. Thinking over and over again if I should ask her this question.

'There is no way I can ask her, 'Is your clan all dangerous?'.'

[Not all clans are noble and just, master. There are some clans and units who would treat human lives like nothing. But I assure you. There are many other clans who would fight for the right thing. Including the safety of the people of Earth.]

"Wh, What? H, How did you know what I was thinking?"

I was startled and loss of words, when Amateratsu answered me as if she read my mind. I quickly checked every sides of her card, to see if there's anything that allowed her to read minds. If she read my mind from the start, I'd jump outside the alleyway right now, so that the Tail joes can end my miserable life.

[Fufu. Your face was just so easy to read, master. Unable to look at me straight. It was almost like seeing my little brother, Susanoo.]

"S, Stop laughing. It's not funny, you know..."

I turned my head away from Amateratsu, but she giggled on how hard I was trying to hide my embarrassed face from her. After the Tail joes, I was doubting if the other clans were just dangerous as they were. Hearing it from Amateratsu, that there are other clans who stop clans like megacolony, made me somewhat comfortable. There was a chance that she might be wrong. But seeing Amateratsu smiling with confidence, made me want to believe her.

"Okay, next questio..."

"Itou, what the hell are you doing?"

"Gah?!"

Not even realizing that she was next to me, Chihiri was squinting her eyes and looking at me very suspiciously. My eyes shot open and I jumped back, almost dropping Amateratsu on the drain, before I barely caught her. It took all my might to hold down my screams. My heart was pounding so hard, that it felt like it was going to burst out of my chest.

"Jeez, Chihiri! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Hey, all I did was just ask. You're the one who overreacted, like I was gonna shoot you or something."

Still gulping in air to catch a breath, I knew Chihiri was right.

Just realizing it now, In Chihiri's hands were two big trash bins, that she probably found them while searching the alleyway, and dragged it here all by herself. The bins had dark smudges that I didn't want to know where it came from. But it was big enough to hide our bodies, in case the Tail joes happened to come here again.

It was good to see Chihiri trying to do something. I was glad that she still had hope, despite the whole odds being way against us.

"You've been talking to yourself a LOT today, Itou. Even when we were going to the card shop, I saw you talking to thin air three times already. You're not... going crazy, are you?"

Chihiri looked at me, while asking with a worrying tone. I had no idea that she was this worried about me. When I was going to say that she had nothing to worry about, Chihiri's tone suddenly spiked up.

"Cause if you are, I'm gonna be pissed! When you were the one who told ME to calm down! You don't have the right to go crazy in front of me, got it?!"

Being called crazy from Chihiri was something that I didn't expect when waking up today. It was quite insulting, like listening to a homeless guy who haven't washed in years, complaining to me that I smell.

One of the many things that Chihiri was excelled at, was to always find new methods to fascinate me in so, so many bad ways.

"Hey! Between the two of us, I'm the last person to go crazy! A sane person wouldn't hold someone's favorite magazine hostage, just because they said something bad about your favorite voice actor! And! Asking your 'best friend' to help, making 'HIM' look like an accomplice to the whole class!"

"Okay first off, mentioning that is a low blow. Second, anyone who talks shit about my goddess AYANA, deserves everything coming their way. And third, shut up! You're the one who's talking to yourself!"

"I am not CRAZY!"

"Says the one who talks to himself!"

Chihiri dropped the bins to the ground and kept pointing me with her finger. Nudging the air like she was trying poke me without even touching me. Now I really wished that I'd notice Chihiri, when she was watching me talk to Amateratsu.

With every word coming from her mouth, Chihiri was really tearing my sanity piece by piece. Despite her... exquisite choice of words, I could feel that Chihiri was really concerned about me. I wanted to tell her about Amateratsu, but it wasn't something that I could easily do. The constant stress coming from this was really eating inside me, that I felt like I would actually go insane because of this.

By the looks of it, Chihiri's suspicion wasn't going to end. No matter what excuse I make, it was useless against Chihiri. She makes up stories and excuses all the time, that she was like a sniffer dog when it comes to lies. If I didn't show Chihiri any proof, she would really think that I'm going crazy.

I looked down at Amateratsu. She was listening to our conversation in my hand. Our eyes met one another. Without having to ask her myself, Amateratsu answered by nodding her head, and I nodded back in agreement.

"You ready, Amateratsu?'

"Huh? What do you mean Amateratsu?"

[Yes.]

"Ok, Chihiri? I want you to NOT freak out what I'm about to show you."

"Freak out on what? You even sound crazy, Itou!"

"Hah... Let's just get this over with..."

After sighing, I walked right in front of Chihiri. Then I opened her hand, and placed Amateratsu's card on her palm. Unlike her insane attempts to get Amateratsu, Chihiri was clueless when she first got the card, that she so wanted to see back at the card shop.

"Huh? This is the CEO Amateratsu card that you kept hiding it from me, right?"

"Yeah, that's the one."

"...And you're giving me this now, because?~"

Not knowing what to do with it, Chihiri flipped the card several times while looking at me more suspicious then ever. She even took a step back, like I was going to do something weird to her.

With that, I took back everything what I just said. Now I hoped that Chihiri would give a freak out reaction of a lifetime. And speaking of reaction, my wish was starting to come true.

[Hello? Chihiri sama?]

"Wha?... W, Who said that?"

[There's no need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you.]

"Wh, Who is this?! Where are you?!"

Chihiri's body shivered when she heard Amateratsu's voice, which was very unknown to her. Now knowing that there's someone here other than the two of us. Chihiri quickly moved her head at all directions like she was panicking, until finally looking down where the voice came from.

[It's an honor to meet master's close friend, face to face.]

"Ah...Ah...Ah..."

"What's the matter? Seeing something 'weird', Chihiri?"

I walked right next to Chihiri and gave her a pat on the shoulder to help her absorb the irony more faster. Amateratsu waving her hand to greet Chihiri, and seeing her responding by freezing in place like she was turned to stone, while muttering the same thing over and over like a broken radio, was totally worth all the looks and stress I got from Chihiri.

"Ah...Ah...Ah..."

[Allow me to introduce myself. I am CEO Amataratsu, who leads the Oracle Think Tank clan. I understand that this form may be shocking to you, but I hope we could get to know each other better from now on, Chihiri sama.]

"Ah...Ah...Ah..."

Amateratsu politely bowed down to Chihiri and ended her introduction. But Chihiri just stood there and kept on reacting the same way when she met Amateratsu. At first, seeing Chihiri's shocked reaction was entertaining. But now it was starting to get worrying, when the last time Chihiri took a breath, was when she saw Amateratsu.

"Uh... Chihiri?"

I backed my hand away from Chihiri and carefully called out to her. The same Chihiri who didn't show any other reaction, besides a muttering rock, swiftly turned her head and looked at me like she was about to eat me or something.

"Uh!..."

As I took a step back, my whole body shivered like I had a tiger in front of me. I couldn't help but be a little scared, when I saw her staring at me with eyes wide open as humanly possible. It felt like Chihiri was trying to look directly into my soul.

"Itou?... Master?... What?..."

Chihiri mumbled to herself in confusion as she extended her hand to me. For a second, I thought she was giving me something out of this world, but there was nothing in Chihiri's hand, besides Amateratsu's card between her fingers. Without haste, I quickly, but carefully took Amateratsu's card from Chihiri, before she could do something.

[Master, did we break Chihiri sama?...]

"I don't know, Amaateratsu. I don't know..."

Judging by her not trying to rip my arm off, it looked like Chihiri was just giving Amateratsu back to me. But to be honest, I had no freaking idea what was going on inside Chihiri's head. Or what she will do next. Me and Amateratsu held on to each other, while we mustered our courage to witness the unknown being that was Chihiri. Before I could ask Chihiri again, she turned her body and finally moved her feet off the ground.

[Master! She's coming!]

"S, Stay back, Chihiri!"

When I thought I was going to have to stop Chihiri physically, she just walked towards the wall next to me and leaned against it. Then Chihiri lifted her head to the sky, and sighed heavily like her soul was escaping through her mouth.

[Is... Chihiri sama going to be okay?]

"I... think so?"

Me and Amateratsu quietly whispered to each other. In case Chihiri might jump at us, we made no sudden movements, while carefully observing her like she was a deadly animal, trapped in the same cage with us.

'I wonder how long will it take her to get over THIS?...'

Chihiri's reaction was different than what I expected by a mile. Now I really regretted that I chose to show Chihiri the truth. But what already happened, happened. To be honest, I was somewhat glad that Chihiri didn't scream the moment she saw Amateratsu. Or immediately rip her in half when she had the chance.

Seeing Chihiri being quiet, meant that she was taking it quite well. This was nothing compared the Tail joes. And if I knew anything about Chihiri, it was that she always gets right back up on her feet.

"AHAHAHAHA! I discovered the missing link! We came from Vanguard cards all along! Screw all of you, Vanguard haters!"

Then Chihiri waved her hands in the air, while laughing maniacally like a mad scientist. Her eyes were full of mad joy, that I was pretty sure that Chihiri was seeing things that me and Amateratsu can't even imagine.

[Master! I believe Chihiri sama is NOW broken!]

"Well, it's kinda obvious when you look at it!"

Chihiri acted so wild with almost to no control. That it seemed like learning about Amateratsu seemed to have more impact on Chihiri, than the Tail joes when she saw them for the first time.

Honestly, I couldn't care less about Chihiri's thoughts. But what I DID have to care about, was Chihiri seemed to also forget that we needed to draw as less attention as possible. And Chihiri's actions were basically like ringing a dinner bell.

Me. Or in this case, 'we' had to calm down Chihiri again, for a completely different reason. If we didn't stop her, than...

Tat- Tat-

Suddenly, several rough metallic sounds rang loudly through the alleyway. Like instinct, me and Amateratsu reacted immediately and turned our heads to the front exit, where the chilling sounds came from. Our ears shook in pure terror, as so did our bodies. It was like hearing the footsteps of the grim reaper, getting closer and closer.

"W, When did they?!"

[We have to hide before they see us!]

"Shit! Chihiri! Get inside the trash... W, Where is she? Chihiri!"

When I turned my head, Chihiri was nowhere to be seen. Shivers crawled up to my spine. Chihiri was just next to me a second ago. I couldn't see them, but if the Tail joes were already here, we were good as dead.

There was no time to search for her. In a panic, I urgently looked at every direction I could possibly see to find Chihiri. Praying to god that she wasn't taken by them.

"Hey! What the hell are you two doing, standing in plain sight?! Are you trying to get yourselves killed?!"

I didn't even have to worry about her, one single bit. Chihiri's body was already half inside the big trash bin, like a rabbit in a hole. Chihiri must have moved the moment she heard the sound. She acted so fast, as if she was a professional athlete.

With no time to waste, I also ran to the other trash bin to hide, before the Tail joes could get closer. I swiftly opened the lid and jumped into the bin without hesitation. Luckily the trash bin was full of used-up paper with no waste nor smell inside. Thank god.

Right before I tried to close the bin, I saw the lid of the bin slightly floating from the opening. The bin wasn't completely closed, as if her head was in the way. It could be my own thoughts, but it looked like her lid was slightly shaking.

"Come on, Chihiri!"

I stood up, then leaned towards Chihiri and I pushed her lid with my hand, completely closing it.

Now it was my time to hide before...

[Umm, master? I believe there's no reason to hide...]

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

[The sound we're hearing isn't getting louder or closer. If you listen to it, it's just repeating in a rhythm. And if you can see there...]

Amateratsu pointed her finger to the other side of the road. I turned my head to the direction that she was pointing and saw what she was talking about.

Tat- Tat- Tat

The other side of the road was devastated by the Tail joes. Cars, buildings, everything in that direction was smashed beyond repair and almost in complete ruins. And in that wreck, were several broken neon signs. The smashed metal parts of the signs were tied to thick electric wires. Due to the strong wind, it kept bumping into the barely leftover wall, making the sounds that we were hearing the whole time.

My face was hot like it was on fire. It felt really pathetic, when I figured out that I was afraid for my life for absolutely nothing. All of my body's cells were tensed up. My skin crawled up so much it was like being poked with needles. But at the same time, I was still alive and was pretty happy about it.

"Oh man... If this keeps up, I'm going to die of heart failure before I'm thirty..."

[I'm sorry, master... I should've realized it sooner.]

"Next time, Amateratsu. Next time. Chihiri. It's a false alarm. Come on out."

After sighing/catching my breath, I walked out of the trash bin and slightly knocked on the one where Chihiri was hiding. But for some reason, there was absolutely no respond from her. Her bin stayed dead silent.

"Chihiri? What're you doing? It's safe to come out."

I knocked on her bin one more time. But the response was the same. If Chihiri was planning to play tricks on me, she was going to have to try harder. Since I never saw her come out, she was definitely still in the bin. I beat Chihiri to the punch and quickly opened the lid before she could have the chance.

"Urgh! W, What the?!"

The second I opened the lid, a foul stench came pouring out of the bin and sucker punched my nose. I held my breath but I was too late. The stench came right up my nose, that smelling it made my head feel dizzy. If I had my mouth open I would've definitely threw up. The smell was so bad I almost wanted to rip my own nose.

I held my nose with all my might and looked inside the now open trash bin. When I saw what I saw, my disgusted face quickly turned modest. I should have noticed there was some kind of reason WHY Chihiri wouldn't close the lid. And I had to just close it without a second thought.

Chihiri was in the bin, alright. My bin and Chihiri's bin looked the same, but was for completely different purposes. Mine was for recycled paper, and Chihiri's was for... food waste.

"Uh... Uh... K, Kill me..."

"Out of all the bins, you had to pick this one, huh..."

I shook my head in pity as I saw Chihiri twitching inside a mixed pool of god knows what.

* * *

"O, Oh g, god... this i, is hell..."

After fiercely throwing away the blackened banana peel off her head, Chihiri crawled up into a ball and shuddered. Trying to deny reality that her clothes and hair was caked in ungodly waste soup. But the smell coming from her kept reminding Chihiri the truth, and Chihiri looked like she was about to burst into tears at any second now.

"Jesus christ! What the hell are people throwing away to make this smell?!"

The smell was bad enough to be a bio weapon. I had some distance between Chihiri. I even held my nose, but I could smell the stench so clear I wanted to burst into tears myself.

I suddenly grew a overwhelming hatred towards people who leave leftovers. It was making mother earth suffer and more importantly, WE were sufferING!

[I wish I could say 'are you okay', master. But It looks like you and Chihiri sama are clearly not...]

Amateratsu couldn't even smell. But her voice was filled with fear, while she saw me and Chihiri suffering at the stench covered hell, that was called current reality. I never thought about it, but I couldn't be more envious of Amateratsu not being able to smell.

Meanwhile. Chihiri, the one who was experiencing the dirtiest time of her life, tightly clutched her fists as goosebumps crawled up her arms, shaking uncontrollably in disgust.

"I, I'm going to have to... p, play a shitload of games to forget this... If it's possible to even get this out of my head..."

"Hah... Do what you have to do, Chihiri..."

"Appreciate it... When I get home, I'm going to wash my hair with all the perfume I can get. Then I'll bathe in it, gargle my mouth with it, and brush my teeth with it until my nose can't smell anything but perfume for a week."

I was getting a certain feeling that Chihiri would never go near a trash bin ever again. On the plus side, my sense of smell was so damaged I couldn't smell the horrible stench coming from Chihiri. Including my own and every other smell. Maybe forever! Yay!

"Now I get why you made such a fuss back at the card shop."

As if she finally got over it, Chihiri's voice that sounded like a cat trying to cough out a hairball, got pretty calm despite she was still a mess. Both literally and figuratively. Just for that, my respects towards Chihiri grew higher. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get over it if I was in her shoes.

"Well, now you know. Wow. Talking to this to somebody else is surprisingly comfortable."

At first, I thought I would have to keep everything about Amateratsu and Cray a secret for the rest of my life. This kind of knowledge getting out was almost certain that it'll bring nothing but trouble. I wasn't someone that couldn't keep a secret, but keeping secrets of this magnitude all to myself was more stressful than I thought. It's been only one day and I was already mentally exhausted.

Getting permission from Amateratsu and telling this to Chihiri of all people made it much easier. Since Chihiri was one of the few people that I could really trust. Chihiri's lips moved at the speed of light almost 24/7. However, she wasn't the kind who would tell someone else's secrets. For once, I guess I have to thank her gifted talent of lying and manipulation.

Still, I would be lying if I wasn't feeling a bit of regret. It wasn't that I didn't believe in Chihiri. But there was a possibility that she could be a target just for knowing about this. I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to tell Chihiri. It felt like I was leading Chihiri to a world that's too dangerous for her. There could be dangers like the Tail joes. or something worse that we couldn't even imagine.

"So, umm... How long did you know about Amateratsu? Like, was it way before you even met me?"

While I was thinking, Chihiri asked me a question in a rather careful manner. I crossed my arms and raised my eyebrows in surprise. It was odd, since I thought Chihiri would be too busy asking tens of questions to Amateratsu in under a minute.

She always talked about how it would be cool if the Vanguard cards would come to life. But after facing the Tail joes, I guess her expectations were not so positive. I didn't blame her, since everybody would react like that if this kind of thing happened to them.

"No. Actually we met today, around the fourth period."

[To be precise, it's been 6 hours and 32 minutes since I met master.]

"Seriously?! Today? You gotta be kidding me! And here I thought you were hiding a beauty like Amateratsu from me, all this time! I'm telling you Itou. It's a sin hiding a beauty from a bro!"

"Yeah, Yeah, whatever you say. 'Bro."

I gave a half-heart answer to Chihiri while folding my fingers. It was wise to ignore half of what this delusional predator was saying. If I could make a book out of Chihiri, it'll be the weirdest thing any human would read.

[Beauty?... I, I don't really see myself as one, but thank you, Chihiri sama. I truly appreciate it.]

Amateratsu scratched her blushed cheeks and showed gratitude towards Chihiri. While seeing her, I quietly shook my head. From the moment Amateratsu showed kindness, I knew that it was a bad move from her.

"Oh, it's nothing. You know, your treasure like beauty would really shine in my bed. With me right next to you, of course!"

[...Uh... What?...]

"Don't worry! The roses and the wine are all on me! What say you!"

[S, Say what?!]

Throwing her careful approach out the window, Chihiri breathed heavily while looking like she was going to eat Amateratsu up. Like little red riding hood and the big bad wolf, Amateratsu was scared out of her mind and backing her body, trying to get far away from Chihiri as she could possibly can.

Like I said. Wise.

"Hey, Chihiri. Focus. We still have a very big pest problem, remember?"

I backed my hand and pulled Amateratsu away from Chihiri's reach.

"Yeah, but can't I do that while I'm hugging Amateratsu?"

[Master, please, please, please...]

"Nuh uh. Concentrate, or Mr. right fist will personally want to meet you."

"Oh fine. I'll play by the rules."

Chihiri stepped back and leaned next to me at the same wall as I was. Amateratsu looked at me like I was some kind of savior. She put her hands together and said thank you to me multiple times, even crying tears of relief. After seeing this, I really shouldn't leave Amateratsu around. Especially with Chihiri.

"So, Itou. You look like you have something to say. Maybe some kind of plan? I hate to say this, but I got nothing. Sorry..."

"It's okay. You still gave some good ideas. And also good guess, cause you're right."

"You have a plan?! Well what is it?"

"Amateratsu. You want to say it?"

[No, after you master. I insist!]

Amateratsu's reaction was a little jumpy. It's like she was instinctively trying to avoid Chihiri. It seemed like I was the one who was saying the plan. After some small coughs, I laid it out to Chihiri.

"We both said that it was near impossible to run away from the Tail joes, right?"

"I know. That's why we're still here."

[The Tail joe's barrier are also a nuisance. Considering the circumstances, hiding or fleeing isn't a valid option for us. Hiding like this is only a matter of time before they find us. And if we run, the Tail joes will catch us even before we could find an exit.]

"Just like what she said."

"So running and hiding is out of the question, huh..."

Chihiri placed her palm on her forehead and sighed heavily. Chihiri's head sank down like an invisible hand was pressing her neck. Knowing that we had little to no options, the air around Chihiri was covered with helplessness. While she was taking it in, Chihiri's shoulders suddenly shook for a second, and then she raised her head looking towards me.

"Wait a second. Those two options were the only things we had left! I thought you said you had a plan. This is just saying that we can't do anything! If we can't run or hide, what else can we d..."

Chihiri's words came to a halt. Her mouth was wide open but no words came out of it, like a cat just got her tongue. Judging by Chihiri's expressions, she quickly figured out the third option. Thinking it over, it was quite easy to find out. Since we already had almost to no options left.

"Don't tell me you're..."

"Yup. We're going to go face to face."

"I hope you have a good explanation, other than a suicide wish?!"

Chihiri was completely baffled as she stood up and angrily rushed towards me, like she was going for a punch. I quickly raised my guard, but instead Chihiri stepped back, even when she was still angry. Like I wasn't worth her energy. Which was fine by me.

"IN CASE you didn't understand your own words. You're suggesting to face, giant mother flipping bugs! That can throw and destroy cars like it was a toy, and tough enough that they can eat bullets for breakfast, without any milk! Sure, what could go wrong, other than dying the second they find us! Amateratsu! Please help me knock some sense into him!"

[Um... Actually it's...]

"Chihiri, Chihiri. Listen. I didn't say that we're going to 'face' the Tail joes."

"Then who? Their long lost mother bug? Their hopes and dreams?"

"..."

I tried to explain, but it just made Chihiri more confused. If I go with her flow, this conversation was never going to end. I stopped talking and quietly stared at Chihiri. When she was the only one talking, Chihiri stopped when she realized I was going to be a brick wall to her, unless she calmed down.

Crossing her arms, Chihiri breathed in some air and looked at me. This time without yelling.

"Fine. Explain."

"Thanks. The one we have to face, is the 'man' the Tail joes were covering."

"Man? What ma... Oh, yeah. There was another guy before we got attacked..."

I was dumbfounded when Chihiri nodded her head, as if she really forgot until I mentioned it. It was hard to believe, since it was the second weirdest thing we saw. And the first being the Tail joes!

"Chihiri. We escaped thanks to the 'guy' having a seizure!"

"Hey! Seeing Amateratsu just made me think of 'things', okay?! But what ABOUT the guy? You said so yourself, that we shouldn't bet on him having another seizure. And waiting for it is just reckless."

Chihiri said in a tone like she was lecturing me. True, I was the one who said we shouldn't wait and hope for a miracle. And I was getting to that, if she just let me finish. It felt like Chihiri was taking revenge at me, being dumbfounded about her forgetting the man. I wanted to headlock her so hard, but I endured my urge to do it and continued talking.

"When the man had the seizure, the Tail joes reacted in pain 'just like' the man. Even when the Tail joes were chasing us, some of them stayed at the back. Like they were trying to protect him. There's no reason to do that, unless he's important to them. I'm almost sure that man is a weak point to the Tail joes."

"Huh, I was too busy running, that I didn't see that..."

The reason I saw it was because of my visions. When the Tail joes attacked me, visions came at me constantly. In the visions, I saw bits of how the man and the Tail joe's react to each other. Thanks to that and the information from Amateratsu, I was able to piece everything together.

"So if we attack the guy."

"The Tail joes are going to drop down as well."

[It's not only that.]

Amateratsu suddenly jumped in the conversation, as if she had something important to add.

"What is it?"

[The man you're talking about is probably a human caught by the Tail joes, to extract the spiritual energy from him, and use it so that they can materialize themselves.]

"Wow. That sounds really unpleasant."

[Yes it is. However, the man wasn't a Psyqualia user like master. The spiritual energy that they can use will be quite short, so the target will be quite weak if you try to fight it.]

"Hold on. If their energy is low, isn't waiting actually a valid option?"

If there was a choice that didn't involve risking any lives, I would take it in a heartbeat.

[No. Like I said back at the school, normal human's bodies are locked to 'store' spiritual energy, not release it. Because they store it almost all their lifetime, the amount of spiritual energy inside is quite a lot. Of course, it's not much compared to a Psyqualia user's. Judging by the man and the Tail joe's state. I believe it'll take at least three hours before it completely depletes.]

"Shit... That long?"

Then there was no choice but to confront them after all.

[H, However!...]

When seeing me get disappointed, Amateratsu stuttered her words, and quickly changed topics like she was trying to cheer me up.

[If the Tail joe's are forcibly extracting spiritual energy, the materialize process will be unstable. Worse, since the man wasn't a Psyqualia user. So if the man takes any damage, it's possible that the Tail joes would vanish also.]

That explained why the Tail joes were desperate to find a Psyqualia user like me. I couldn't imagine the things that they would've done to me if I was caught. Just trying to think about it made my body shake in fear.

Thanks to Amateratsu, attacking the man became more like an actual plan. I wanted to jump in joy, as things were finally turning to our favors.

"Really? You hear that, Chihiri? There's always a way!"

"Yeah... About that, Itou."

I gleely turned to Chihiri if she was glad as I was. But unlike me, Chihiri wasn't looking very happy. She raised her hand while looking at me with a worrying face. Like she didn't want to say what was on her mind, but was bugging her mind or was too important not to say it.

"I think this is a good plan and all, but wouldn't the guy be guarded by those bugs, if he's so damn important? They'll be guarding him to the teeth. Can we actually get past them?"

"Uh..."

I was too fixated by the man, I forgot the obvious fact that he would be guarded. By the Tail joes I wanted to avoid, no less. I quickly tried to fix the plan in my head. But no matter how many times I thought about it. The one big flaw that I missed completely destroyed any approaches that I could think of.

The once perfect looking plan was now unclear like a thick gray smog.

"You didn't think all the way, did you?"

"...Yeah..."

"Crap..."

I had a mouth, but I wasn't able to say anything to Chihiri. Chihiri slapped her own forehead with her handpalm while letting out a heavy sigh. If she didn't tell me that, I would've blindly believed that my plan will work. Not knowing that I'd be walking straight into a death trap.

I shouldn't be calling Chihiri stupid. Since I wasn't very far from it.

"Damn it! The one and only plan we got, and the Tail joes HAD to make it go to shit!"

[Ummm... I might be able to solve that problem...]

""Say wha?!""

Amateratsu came to us like a shining messiah. To save the bloody idiot who came up with a flawed plan, which was busy banging his head on the wall. Her voice was so pleasent and calming like a church bell. Especially when she used the word 'solve'.

We closed our lips and waited for her to say it. I couldn't imagine what kind of brilliant plan Amateratsu would come up with.

[I'm able to materialize, master.]

"...What?..."

"...Ha?..."

I was right. I wasn't able to imagine her answer. Me and Chihiri froze in place at Amateratsu's words. The 'M' word took over our minds like a giant wave. Hitting our heads like a sledgehammer, until slowly sinking in to completely process it.

'M, Materialize? As in... Having a real body... And be able to fight like the Tail joes?...'

""Seriously?!""

[W, Well yes. I kept trying to explain it to you several times. But it always was a bad time.]

"No, No, No! This is the perfect time to explain! Ten out of ten! Perfect!"

I wanted to hear it right this second. I hastily asked her again and again, while pulling her close to my face, as if I was trying to go inside the card. Amateratsu withdrew her body but still tried to explain. But I was so excited that I didn't know that I was pushing her.

"Hey! You're making Amateratsu uncomfortable!"

As if she couldn't watch anymore, Chihiri snatched Amateratsu away from my hand. At first I was mad and confused towards Chihiri. But before I could say anything, I realized how bad I was treating Amatertasu.

"Oh, right... Sorry, Amateratsu."

[N, No need to apologize, master! You were just curious, that's all...]

Now that I cleared my head, I was ready to ask Amateratsu the right way. I reached my hand to Chihiri to get back Amateratsu. Then suddenly I heard some weird sounds.

Hah... Hah...

I might be hearing things, but it was definitely heavy breathing. With some... impure intentions sprinkled on top...

"H, Hey Amateratsu. If you can materialize. T, then does that mean the other clan units like... A, Angel Feathers can also materialize?"

[Y, Yes... If you're worthy enough?... W, Why are you drooling, Chihiri sama?!]

"Ah, yeah! Now, I REALLY want to get 'close' to you, Amateratsu."

[Oh me, Oh me, Oh me!]

It was the drooling and panting of my dear best friend, that I so wanted to turn her to the police. Before she could scar Amateratsu for life, I swooped over to Chihiri and snatched Amateratsu back. Freeing her from Chihiri's sinful grasp.

"I'M the one making her uncomfortable?! YOU'RE the one giving her nightmares!"

"Hey, I was just politely asking her if my dreams could come true. No other intentions, whatsoever!"

"Say that AFTER you wash the drool off your mouth, you creep!"

"Ack!"

Without any hesitation, I gave her the noogie of justice on her head. When I got back to Amateratsu, she was shivering and sweating all over, like a little girl who just saw a big monster.

No. Worse than a monster. Because any monster would run away from Chihiri, when her mania switch is flipped. Just seeing her like that made me want to give Chihiri a second noogie.

"You all right, Amatertasu? I'm sorry I gave Chihiri the chance."

[I,It's okay... I'll get over it... Eventually...]

"Yeah... I know this isn't a good time, but can you tell me more about the materialize thi-"

Hah... Hah...

"Damn it, Chihiri! Can't you lay off just for a second?!"

"What? I didn't do anything!"

"Huh?"

Chihiri was still tending the place where I gave her the noggie. She didn't make any uncomfortable sounds. In fact, she was too far from me to hear her breathing so clearly. It didn't come from her. Then where did it?...

Splat-

Several water drops fell down like it was raining. But when I saw the outside of the alleyway, it was still sunny, with no hints of rain anywhere. The drops that fell to the ground wasn't clear water. It was black like oil. Not only that, the grey concrete ground was now completely black like it was night. Like it was covered in shadow...

Or, 'shadows'...

Me and Chihiri looked at each other. Gulping what could be our final breath, then finally looking up.

Only to see a legion of Tail joes crawling. Covering every spot of sunlight at the top of the alleyway.

"Shit..."

We were so careless...

""""F-F-Found Y-Y-Y-You...""""

* * *

 **Hey, guys! Really sorry for being this late. I planned to make it early, but... one word, Exams. I'll try to make it early next.**

 **Jesus it's hard to write a vanguard fan fic this long, without cardfights... Battle scenes is... Oh boy, looking forward to it... RIP.**

 **(P.S: It really helps if any of you write a review. I kinda want to know what you guys want to say. Wow, is this begging or what;;)**


	8. Chapter 8- Evolution, makes size

**Gentlemen! Reviews are really appreciated!**

 **-A desperate writer(2018)-**

* * *

The sight of the crawling bugs was horrifying beyond my expectations. Their metal plating scratched on to each other, and filled the alleyway with sharp, ear bleeding noises. Looking at the sharp, pointy end on their tails, made my insides feel like it shrank. Every single one of their tails crushed metal and concrete like it was nothing. It was much more easier for them to puncture human flesh.

[Kuurgh!]

"Hah!... Hah!..."

My legs shook like crazy when I suddenly saw the vision in my head. In it, we were just standing there in fear, and was unable to do anything. Then our bodies were brutally punctured by the sharp metal tails several times. Me and Chihiri screamed in agony as our blood flew everywhere, coloring my eyes red.

I had to do something. I needed to move right away. But my entire body was heavily anchored to the ground by pure fear. My muscles just refused to move.

Chihiri wasn't looking good herself. Doing everything in her power to move, but so scared that she was frozen in place. Unable to look away from the Tail joes while her whole body helplessly trembled. While struggling to move, I noticed one part of my body that I could move. Then a single idea came to my head like a spark. It was... a rather painful way, but with no other choice, I took it.

 **"Argk!"**

I opened my shaking mouth and then bit down on my lower lip. The bitter taste of blood filled my mouth. And the sharp pain ran through my frozen body like electricity. Forcibly waking up my body.

 **"Run!"**

After the pain snapped me out of the paralyzing fear, I screamed at the top of my lungs. When Chihiri heard my loud voice, her frozen body jumped as if she was startled. Thanks to her shock, Chihiri was able to move again.

With no time to think. We both turned our heads to the exit.

"Let's go!"

"Come on, come on!..."

Our just woken muscles hurt like crazy, as we immediately ran towards the exit with everything we got.

The distance between the exit was about ten meters. We had the right choice to stay somewhat near the exit, in case things like this happened to us. But the short distance between us and the exit were far from 'safe'.

The Tail joes were not idiots, and certainly weren't going to just let us escape.

"T-They'r-re get-ting aw-way!"

"W-W-We let th-them go, w-w-we are d-dead!"

"A-Attack! W-White h-h-hair is still u-usab-b-le without o-one or t-t-two l-l-limbs!"

They attacked us right after we started to run. A barrage of sharp metal pincers came pouring down at us like heavy rain.

"Shit! Shit!"

"Keep going!"

We ducked our upper body to avoid the sharp tails, but we didn't stop moving forward. If we stopped for even one second, we were going to be human skewers. The Tail joe's tails flew right over our heads and body. When their tails got close, we could feel gusts of horrifying wind blowing on us, as a reminder that we were this close of dying. Every step we took, almost a hundred tails came flying at us with murderous force. Even when they missed, they immediately pulled their tails in and stabbed right back at us.

"Left! Duck!"

"Whoa! Damn that was close!..."

Two tails that would've crushed Chihiri barely missed, thanks to her quickly moving exactly to my warnings. Chihiri gulped in shock and almost fell down, when she saw parts of the ground and wall, getting crushed by the tail's sheer force. As if getting my life on the line was a motivation, My ability which acted like it had a mind of it's own, reacted at just the moments when we really needed it.

 **[Argk!]**

"Oh!... Fuck!..."

Me and Chihiri were able to dodge almost to impossible attacks, while not stopping thanks to my visions. However the alternate moments when we failed also popped up. Images of us dying in violent ways that was too disgusting to imagine, kept appearing inside my head in gruesome detail.

'I... think I'm going to hurl...'

The images was so gory, it was too much for me to handle. But despite that, I bit my lower lip and barely endured my urge to throw up my insides. I had not just my own, but Chihiri's life on the line, too. Because of that, I wasn't going to let some mere sickness distract me.

While trying my best to ignore the gruesome images, I calmed down the mess that was my head, and carefully thought about how we were going to get out of here alive. The exit was just ahead of us, but I had a feeling something was going to go wrong.

 **[Master! In front of you!]**

 **[Wha?! Kurg!...]**

As if to further prove my point a vision appeared. If I keep moving forward, I was going to get stabbed in the stomach from the front. And that wasn't the worst part. We had less than two meters left before the exit. But at that moment, the Tail joes attacked with all of their tails and covered the whole alleyway in a second. Judging how my vision ended there, it was likely that I died instantly.

We were certainly going to die if we just keep moving forward. In a hurry, I quickly looked at my surroundings to see anything that could possibly change the results. For better or for worse, three things were caught on my eyes.

It would've been nice if I had some time left to really think about this. But right now, this was the time to act!

"Chihiri!"

"What?!"

First thing I did was turn my head towards Chihiri, which she was running right behind me. With no context, I immediately grabbed on to her pants and shirt.

"Whoa! W, What are you?!"

"U-rah!"

"What theee?!"

When Chihiri turned and saw me with absolute confusion, I mustered every strength into my arms, and the second I managed to lift her up, I tossed Chihiri's body towards the exit.

Chihiri's not so light body went flying twenty centimeters off the ground, and safely made it outside the alleyway.

 **[Master! In front of...]**

"I know! Urg!"

Right after throwing Chihiri, I gritted my teeth and quickly stuck to the right wall. With a gust of wind, the sharp blade that would stab my stomach, came at me like a speeding bullet. But thanks to me moving aside the last second, it barely missed me by a few millimeters and hit nothing but empty air.

 **[I, If it weren't for your ability, you would've been...]**

"You don't have to tell ME about that!"

The owner of the tail would probably be furious right now, missing a guaranteed hit. It would have been a surprise attack for me, if not for my visions.

"Oof!"

'All right! She got out!'

While I dodged, Chhiri's body hit the ground and rolled at the bright brick pavement. I might have overshot the throw a bit too much. But I just couldn't take the risk, in case she didn't make it.

Now that I didn't have to worry about Chihiri getting killed. It was my turn to get out of here in one piece.

My heart was pounding, since I knew the Tail joes would attack with all of their tails at once. The exit was only a few steps afar. But I knew that running towards it would just get me killed, since I was an open target for them. The Tail joes knew which way I'll take. Which meant they knew where to focus. Their tails were fast and fairly long, that they'll impale me even if I do make it out. It seemed like there were no options left for me.

But luckily, I happened to get a hold of something helpful, when I moved to the wall. When I moved to the right, it wasn't just to dodge the tail.

"Hah!"

When the Tail joes seemed like they'll attack me with their tails. I quickly threw the 'thing' I was grabbing in my hand, to the Tail joes.

 **Fwoop-**

The blue plastic trash bin I threw, went flying like a Frisbee and hit one of the Tail joe's head. The Tail joe that got hit in the eye screeched, as it shook it's head like crazy.

"A-Ack?!"

"W-What i-i-is tha..."

"W-W-Watch i-it!"

 **Crack! Crack!**

Just like the vision I saw, the Tail joes attacked me all at once. But because one of them couldn't see thanks to my lucky shot, the blind one's aim went all over the place and it's tail hit an empty wall. And by doing that, it blocked over half of every other tails that was coming towards me.

 **[Master, now!]**

"Already on it!"

I pushed the trash bin next to me and headed for the exit. I managed to block half of the tails that were going to attack. But there was still over ten more tails that was swiftly coming right towards me. Even after blocking almost half of them, I still wasn't out of the tails range. Three more steps left, and I had less than a second before the rest of the tails to follow and rip my body apart.

"Shit! What should I do?!"

 **[Master! They're expecting you to run on ground! Use the wall!]**

"The wall?! How am I goi... Oh! Got it!"

Thanks to Amateratsu's advice, I saw a possible route ahead. While running, I ducked just enough that my body won't fall down, and managed to avoid the first wave of four tails. Buying maybe a few milliseconds by ducking down, I pushed the ground with my hands and legs to lift myself up. I quickly moved to the left and ran on top of the trash bins.

 **Bam! Bam!**

Just like Amateratsu's words, three tails attacked parts of the ground I would've stepped on, if I haven't got on the trash bins. Hearing loud sounds of several things getting destroyed behind me, there was no doubt that there was still a wave left.

As a last resort, I kicked the wall and flew out. Finally escaping the alleyway. The sunlight that I thought I'll never get to feel it again, warmly covered my face, like it was greeting me for all the near death experiences I had to go through.

"I... got!..."

 **Shric-**

When I started to taste the sweet feeling that was safety. A sudden creepy sound chillingly crawled inside my eardrum. Feeling like a knife was touching my back, I shivered and turned my head to see the alleyway.

 **[Master!]**

Amateratsu panicked and shouted out loud to me. But it was already too late for warnings. My current sight and the new vision that just appeared, overlapped with each other. I turned my head to see the sharp metal end of the tail coming out of the dark alleyway. And then in the vision, I saw my own body.

Without a head.

'All that trouble for what?... For me to die like this?...'

The chill of death took over every part of my body, as the tail's sharp end flew closer and closer to sever my neck whole.

"Iyaaaa!"

At the moment when my mind turned blank. Someone grabbed my chilled arm and pulled me back. I felt my body moving towards the strong pulling force. Before I could figure out what it was, I woke up at the sudden sting on my cheek.

"Ow!... U, Uaahhhh!"

The sharp tail that would've cut my head clean off, just barely missed me and the blade like tip grazed a bit of flesh off my cheek. While screaming at the top of my lungs, I thought my heart would come right out of my mouth. One more centimeter less, and I would probably be a headless ghost right know.

I fell on my back at the hard pavement. I lied down on the ground, while gasping for sweet air and tried to keep my heart intact, when I heard a familiar voice clicking it's tongue.

"Jeez... man... What're you... going to do... without me?..."

Chihiri snickered as she stood next to me, placing her hand on her chest while she was gasping for air. I threw Chihiri about six meters away from the alleyway, so she wouldn't get hurt. But she ran back to the alleyway. Just in time to save me...

 **[Chihiri sama... Thank you... Thank you so much!]**

Amateratsu didn't stop bowing her head down to Chihiri. Amateratsu looked like she was almost about to cry, of how thankful she was feeling about Chihiri.

"No pro..blem... Whew..."

Chihiri waved her hand at Amateratsu like it was nothing, before her shaking legs gave in and she fell down on the ground with her butt. I looked at Chihiri's face without words. Her face sparkled in bright light, as if I was seeing a pure diamond. It was like heroism was flowing out of her whole body.

When I tried to stand up, Chihiri quickly stood up first and offered me her hand while smiling.

"You owe me big time, man."

I looked up to my savior and firmly grabbed on to her hand.

"Yeah... Whatever you... Say!"

"Whak?!"

When I was almost standing up, I quickly turned my feet and grabbed Chihiri's back to pull her to my side. Chihiri was leaning and grabbing on to my hand, which made it rather easy to pull her towards me.

"The hell, Itou..."

 **Fwop!**

Before Chihiri could finish her sentence, the same tail that grazed my cheek came flying out of the dark alleyway. It flexibly moved in the air like a whip, and smashed the ground where Chihiri was standing just a second ago. The pavement got shattered to pieces and the brick shards flew everywhere like bomb shrapnel. Even when I was laying low, one of the shards almost hit my head.

"Wha?..."

"Close call..."

When I lifted my head, the smashed ground was slightly punched in by the tail's deadly force. Chihiri, who was laying on top of me, turned her head and saw the damage. Her face grew tense as she took a big gulp. Obviously shocked at the fact that she almost died.

"And that makes us even, Chihiri!"

"Yeah, whatever! Let's just get out of here, before any other shit happens!"

"Then get off me, for a start!"

Chihiri rolled to the side and quickly got off my body. Ignoring my shaking legs, I stood up first and gave a helping hand to Chihiri, so we can both get out of here faster.

 **[M, Master! T, That way is!]**

"T-Target's f-f-front of u-u-us! M-M-Move!"

"Y-Y-You first!"

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"Whoa! Holy shit!"

After pulling Chihiri off the ground, the first thing we saw was the alleyway completely stuffed with the Tail joes. We were closer to the alleyway than we thought. Looking no more than two meters. The two of us were so surprised, it felt like our soul was going to jump out of our mouths.

The Tail joes disgustingly squirmed their bodies to try to get out, but was too stuffed to do so. As they squirmed, their metal plates scratched with each other and made horrible sounds, like scratching a rusty nail to a chalkboard.

"Not going that way!"

 **[We should move somewhere else! If there's this much Tail joes here, there's a possibility that the man we're looking for will not be far off!]**

"All right. Come on, Chihiri! Let's move!"

Me and Chihiri quickly stepped back away from them. We moved to the opposite direction from the Tail joes, and ran in the empty road. I forgot that my legs were even shaking. All I could think now was to run away, and gain more distance from the bugs as much as humanly possible.

The roads were completely deserted. And I wasn't talking about there being only two of us. All the cars on the road were blown away when the Tail joes swarmed this place to find us. The paved road was a mess of ruined asphalt. Not only that, the smashed cars that was on the road, were leaking gas of was on fire while fuming black smoke.

We couldn't imagine that this was the same Akihabara. It was like we were in a whole new place.

"What the hell... It's like a war zone..."

"They really trashed everything, didn't they?..."

The buildings weren't in fine shape also. Almost all the windows that we could see were smashed to pieces. And most of the building's walls that were made with hard concrete had hundreds of clear scratch marks digged in(Which was obvious, since the Tail joe's legs were basically sharp metal). It was like seeing an aftermath of a tornado attack. Me and Chihiri were only in the alleyway, that we didn't realize how much damage the Tail joes caused until now.

"H, Hey, Itou! D, Don't we have to find the guy that summoned those bugs?! I thought running away isn't a good idea!"

While we continued to run, Chihiri who was almost out of breath, yelled at me as if I forgot our plan.

"Well, let's do that AFTER we gained some distance from them! Amateratsu! Now's a good time to teach me how to summon you!"

Amateratsu nodded and started to explain. The Tail joes won't be stuck in the alleyway for long. If they start chasing us, we had to be ready for them.

 **[Right! First, you should place your hand on the card, and try to feel my spiritual wave's pattern! Remember, every units have their very own wave patterns, master!]**

"Uh, do you mind skipping some details?! Tell me the short version!"

 **[T, The short version? I, If that's what you want... Next, release your spiritual energy and pour it into the card...]**

"Q, Question! How do I 'release' my spiritual energy?"

 **[Huh? Oh, that's right... Master didn't even know about that... T, This might me a little troublesome...]**

Amateratsu's voice sounded like she was panicking a little. It looked like I had to know how to use spiritual energy, before I could even summon her. If that's the case. It's like I was trying to ride a bicycle, when I couldn't even walk.

"How do you NOT know how to use spi- 'whatever energy', Itou?! You see visions all the time, don't you?!"

"Yeah! But I don't feel like I use ANYTHING when I see them! And they pop out of nowhere without my will. So technically, I NEVER used them!"

 **[O, Okay... Imagine your body as if it's made out of water!]**

"Water?"

With some doubts, I tried to imagine myself as water. It sounded easy in my head at first, but it really wasn't a good time to imagine my whole body made of water. Since I was currently using my legs that are a 'part' of my body, to run for dear life.

It was harder than I thought. But by squeezing all of my teenage imagination, I imagined my silhouette made of water. Then all of a sudden, the silhouette I drew disappeared and something else quickly covered up the image.

 **[Master, behind you!]**

"Shit!"

 **Zhat!**

With my head completely filled with the new image, I quickly ducked my head. And just as I saw it. A huge chunk of concrete that's big as my head flew right at me and barely missed mine by two centimeters. Chihiri gulped and turned her head back slightly. Only to scream and run as fast as she could. With no need to turn around, I saw the swarm of Tail joes quickly gaining on us.

Their sharp metal legs constantly scratched the already messed up ground. With them getting closer and closer by the second, another vision appeared in my head. I quickly turned my head to Chihiri and shouted out to her.

"Chihiri, jump!"

"W, What?!"

"Just jump! Now!"

Chihiri and I both jumped off the ground at same time. One of Tail joes that were close, sweeped the ground beneath us with it's long tail. With a strong gust of wind, we could feel the metal tail almost touching the end of our shoes. We weren't able to jump very high, but luckily it was enough. If we jumped lower than that, we would've fell down and be minced meat by their knife like legs.

"S-So c-close!"

"Oh my god! That almost hit me!"

Thanks to the vision showing up at the right time, we managed to dodge the attack, which basically would've doomed both of us. My visions were what's keeping me and Chihiri alive. But in this situation, where there was a whole swarm of giant centipedes hell bent on killing us, with no way to hide or outrun them. There simply was no vision that could save us from this dreadful truth. Running from them was just barely buying a few seconds until the inevitable. But these few seconds, were the time to decide if we're going to live, or die.

"Amateratsu! What's after imaging water?! Drop the details and get to the point!"

 **[A, After that, imagine your soul as a part of your body! Like another kind of liquid mixed into the water!]**

"I, I know this is a first, but can't you two do it a b, bit m, more faster?!"

One of the Joe's tail came flying and barely missed Chihiri's body, tearing the sleeve on her uniform. Her whole face turning pale, Chihiri shouted at us in a big panic. Her yelling was not helping. But I would be just as terrified as her, if I had no visions not knowing when the Tail joes attacks are going to come.

The only way out of this was to materialize Amateratsu, just like the Tail joes. Amateratsu tried her best to explain as fast as she can. Before I get impaled or ripped apart by those fucking bugs, I wasn't going to give up on trying just yet.

 **[Next is!... Oh, no... Master! Chihiri sama! Stop! Step back immediately!]**

"W, What?! What're you talking about?!"

"Hang on, what did she say?!"

Amateratsu talked like she just lost her mind. But then, the constant sounds of scratching metal behind us, suddenly came to a halt. I looked back, and the all of the Tail joes stopped on their tracks and was busy retreating back. In that very moment, a feeling struck like lightning that there was something WORSE waiting for us.

"Holy... Shit! Shit! Shit! Run!"

"Wha, C, Chihiri?!"

Before I could turn my head around. Chihiri suddenly grabbed my hand and ran back the way we came. The same direction where the Tail joes were waiting for us.

"L, Let go of me, Chihiri! The Tail joes are right fucking there!"

"Yeah! And THAT, too!"

"'That'? Wh, what're you?..."

Suddenly, like a flip on a switch, the sky quickly turned dark. It was getting late and the sky WAS getting dark. But the sudden change just now, was too fast to be natural. Getting dragged by Chihiri, I turned my head in confusion, and then saw 'it'.

The skies were not the thing that caused it. I couldn't see clearly what it was. But something as gigantic as a building, was floating high in the air. Covering me, Chihiri and even the street we were on with thick shadow.

"T, The fuck is that?!"

"You see why I'm running for dear life?!"

 **[M, Master, be careful! It's coming down!]**

That giant thing, 'coming down'?... The second we heard Amateratsu's warning, it was like our lungs were sinking down on quicksand. Every possible worst scenarios came flashing before my eyes.

""Oh, shit...""

With barely a second to spare, me and Chihiri jumped to the side and threw our bodies on the ground. We ducked our heads down, and prayed for dear life.

 **PHAM!**

At the sound of the bang, everything shook. giant shock waves came from behind us and shook the very ground beneath us. Car alarms, windows breaking, multiple objects crashing down. The sounds of everything around us being destroyed all at once, came at us at all directions and each sound roared loudly like cannon fire.

Along with the ground shaking, every passing second felt like an hour. While facing down on the ground, I was afraid that I'll never open my eyes again. Unable to hear my own thoughts, I desperately waited for the shaking to end.

"Hang on, Chihiri!"

I yelled as loud as I could, but was completely muted by every other sounds. I couldn't hear any of Chihiri's voice. The only thing I knew she was here, was her hand grabbing on to mine. I firmly held her hand like my life depended on it. And kept reminding to myself that she'll be okay.

"...to... Itou!"

"Ch, Chihiri?! You okay?!"

"I, I'm fine! Uhh..."

As the shaking finally started to fade. The first thing I heard was Chihiri's voice. I raised my head in a hurry, and turned to the direction of her hand to see if she's okay. Chihiri was panting for air, like she held her breath all this time. Chihiri's whole body, including her eyes and hand were shaking uncontrollably like she was freezing cold.

Despite looking like she just woke up from a nightmare, Chihiri showed no signs of pain. There were some scratches here and there, but nothing looked severe or dangerous. Her dirty uniform(including mine) covered in black asphalt was more noticeable than her wounds.

"Think you can stand up on your own, Chihiri?"

"I, I think so? Urh!... Nope."

Chihiri tried to get up, but her legs were too tense and was still shaking.

"Come on, I'll help you."

After barely getting myself off the ground, I pulled on Chihiri's hand and slowly lifted her up. While doing that, I turned my head around and checked our surroundings. To sum it up, everything everywhere was a disaster. Broken cars, fallen signs, anything on the ground was all damaged beyond repair. Glass shards, pieces of concrete and bricks were everywhere. And the buildings that had scratch marks, now had big crack marks. Some buildings were even collapsed by the shock wave, and was now a pile of debris.

And then, I froze up when I saw 'that'.

"Chi, Chihiri?... What's 'that'?"

"What are you... What the?!"

We saw our reflection bouncing off of a three story silver blade, that smashed the street in a single line. And the thing attached to the blade, was a massive arm covered in brown armor plating that were bigger than a car.

"Get back! Get back!"

"H, How big is that thing?!"

Almost falling down again, me and Chihiri stepped back from the blade as fast as possible. It was bone chilling when it was only a meter away from hitting us. The blade's obvious size and weight was more than enough to make the shock waves we just felt right now. The one who attacked us with the blade was massive like a giant. But we couldn't see who, or what it looked like, due to the building sized blade covering our sights.

"Amatertatsu, what is that?! Is that another unit?!"

 **[Th, That's...]**

 **"Wow. You two are so puny, that I almost killed you all by accident."**

Me and Amateratsu's conversation was cut off by a deep voice as almost loud as a speaker. It came from way above us, like it was coming from a helicopter speaker you see on movies. The blade that smashed the streets was slowly lifted up, while chunks of asphalt and concrete stuck on to it fell down on the ground.

With the blade out of the way. We saw the one who attacked us. After finally seeing it, I truly wished we had no idea what it was. But me and Chihiri played Vanguard for a while and knew about all sorts of cards. Without a second of hope, the moment we looked up, me and Chihiri realized that 'it' was from Megacolony.

"Is that... one of the Megacolony units?..."

"Wait, I've seen that thing on a card before! It was... some kind of beetle?"

[Yes. The 'martial arts mutant'. Also known as, Master beetle.]

 **"At your fucking service."**

* * *

 **Ey, guys! Thanks for reading this weird ass story again! To sum up this chapter, is that everything can go wrong! Tail joes are the worst? Bam! Giant beetleborg(?) in the house!**

 **Sorry for getting updates late. I'm working on this and the recent story, so I have a lot on my plate now. Also college, so you know what I'm talking about. Off topic, the views I'm getting are almost focused on the first chapter. I wonder what's up with that.**

 **Anyone thank you again for reading, and I'll get another one cooked as soon as possible! Adios!**


	9. Chapter 9 Materialize

**Final exams are ovah, baby!**

* * *

Unlike the Tail joes that crawled, Master beetle was standing with two legs like a human. It's gigantic body looked at least eight stories high. The ground around it was shaded black due to the sheer size. It's body was covered from head to toe with thick brown armor like some kind of medieval knight. Attached on both side of it's arms, were the huge blades that the Master beetle just lifted from the ground. The blades had a unique design. The blade's end was divided in two separate directions, resembling a beetle's horn. Sharp and massive, it looked it was able to cut a building in half with no problem. The sunlight reflecting on the blade made my body to twitch, like I've already been cut by it.

At the top of the body, was the Master beetle's head itself. Matching the color of the armor, Master beetle was wearing a helmet that covered it's entire face. Except it's green eyes that glowed brightly like spotlights. And just like the name, the helmet had a single huge horn on the front, which looked like a beetle.

 **"I gotta say, I'm surprised! I thought the Tail joes could handle it all by themselves. but son of a bitch! You useless lumps of flesh have a knack for surviving!"**

Master beetle looked down, and chuckled as it casually insulted us without a thought. Like we were next to nothing to it's eyes. I've seen a lot of assholes, but I never saw a case like this, when the first thing I hear is an insult. It didn't help that Master beetle's voice was roaring like a thunderclap. For some reason, whenever I heard it's voice, my body grew more colder and colder.

"I, Itou... W, What're we going to do?..."

"Huh? J, Just step back slowly. At least let's try to avoid getting squashed..."

 **"Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you."**

With no time to react, I felt a sudden sharp feeling behind my back. My body temperature dropped, as I felt something sharp and metallic pushing closer and closer to me.

"Ha?!"

My heart felt like it was going to pop out. My instincts screaming to run, I quickly jumped forward. Not even catching a breath, I immediately turned my back around to see what was behind me.

 **"F-F-Finally caught y-y-you."**

"Wha?!"

Every single one of the Tail joes gathered in a straight line, and formed a wall right behind us. I got out of the way in time. However, Chihiri was surprised by the Tail joe's static voice, that she didn't realize the bugs were right behind us.

"Huh?! S, Shi!-"

When she did realize, Chihiri panicked and tried to move forward, But it was too late. She was already stepping back, and was unable to move. And like a hunter catching it's prey, the sharp end of the Tail joe's tail was aiming right behind her. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"Chi!-"

I reached out my hand towards Chihiri as much as I could. Pull her, knock her down, anything I could do to make that tail miss. But by one. My hand missed her's by just one single centimeter. The Tail joe that was aiming at Chihiri, bent it's tail backwards. And

 **CRACK!**

All of a sudden, the end of Master beetle's blade came down at the Tail joe and smashed it's body to pieces. The impact on the ground send Chihiri flying. With a thud, her body roughly landed right next to me.

"Chihiri! A, Are you hurt?!"

"Y, Yeah... But I'll live... Urgh..."

Chihiri nodded her head while she groaned in pain. Meanwhile the Tail joes were all loss of words, and looked at the crushed remains of their own. Next to the giant hole made by the blade, the crushed one's barely left leg crawled at the ground like a fish out of water. When it stopped moving it turned into some kind of light particles, until finally vanishing into thin air.

 **""W-W-Why?!""**

Before the Tail joes could say anything else, Master beetle pointed it's sharp blade right in front of their eyes. The shocked Tail joe's trembled their bodies uncontrollably. All except for their mouths, which they immediately shut tight. As if the answer was already obvious, the Tail joes didn't dare to say another word.

 **"I told you to BRING the Psyqualia user. NOT kill! You can say, I'm a bit 'disappointed' right now. So please, if any of you want to follow that 'failure' I just dealt with. Feel free to step in."**

Overwhelmed by the Master beetle's chilling voice, every single one of the Tail joes stepped back five meters away from us. For a moment, I thought it was our chance to escape. But before I could even move an inch, the Tail joes quickly formed a giant circle around the whole street.

Whether they were close or far away, the Tail joes still trapped us in their grasps.

 **"That's better. A Psyqualia user ain't useful if it's dead. And we wouldn't want that, do we?~"**

The Master beetle looked down and snickered at me. Showing it's sharp brown teeth, which looked like a set of huge rusted drills. Just by looking at Master beetle's gigantic size was more than enough to overwhelm both me and Chihiri.

"Ack... Ugk..."

"Ha... Ha..."

Every time the Master beetle's voice roared, my heart and lungs felt like it was being squeezed by invisible hands. I stuck my eyes straight to the ground. If I looked up to directly face the Master beetle, I was afraid that my entire organs would pop like balloons.

'S, Stay calm... I can't... let it get to me!...'

[Master? Chihiri sama? What's wrong... Wait, is thi?!]

Amaterasu looked shocked as if she found out something. But before she could say anything, it was already too late.

"Argh!"

A massive wave of pain quickly spread through my body. Like a poison, my cold legs and arms gave in and I fell to the ground. I squirmed and struggled to stand up, but my limbs didn't react as if they weren't mine.

[Ma- Yo-]

"Urg... Wh, What?!"

Amaterasu was moving her mouth constantly, but to no avail. The pain that struck me was like a sledgehammer to the head. The sounds that I could barely hear became ear bleeding echoes. Muting everything what Amaterasu was trying to say to me.

Thud-

"Ch, Chihiri!"

"Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah..."

The next second, Chihiri collapsed to the ground. Lying face down on the ground, Chihiri was hyperventilating like a fish out of water. Desperate for air, her back constantly went up and down. And just like a breathless fish, her entire body twitched and trembled uncontrollably. It looked like she was going to die at any second.

"Chihiri, look at me! Look at m- guahhh!"

I called out to Chihiri, until my own words quickly turned into screams. My heart was beating so hard, every beat made my body jump in pain. My senses began to get hazy, but I could still feel the pain entirely. I gritted my teeth to hold in the pain as much as possible.

 **"That's it. Just lose your mind and let's get this over with."**

The distorted laughter of the Master beetle made the pain worse. I struggled to fight whatever the Master beetle was doing to us. Holding on to my mind, which was being ripped to pieces by something I can't even comprehend.

'Is it... poison?... Mind... control?... Ark!... I have to... find a way to... fight it!... But how?...'

My strength and sanity was fading away like sand. The more I try to fight it, the chill and the pain just got stronger. I had no idea how the Master beetle was doing this to us. But was impossible to find out, or even think about it, with my brain being scrambled around.

"I can't... I can't..."

Powerless. That's what we were right now. Utterly powerless. The Master beetle was a level beyond the Tail joes. It didn't even have to anything to break us down. We were mere dust compared to it.

Realizing that, I questioned myself the meaning to fight such a being. It would be easier. It would feel better... If I just give in...

[Master! Can you hear me?! Snap out of it! You need to fight it!]

Suddenly, I could hear Amaterasu's voice ringing loudly in my head, like a giant bell. My whole body jumped at the unexpected loud sound. So much that it almost gave me a heart attack.

Amaterasu was thinking that I passed out, and she tried her best to wake me up.

"A..ma..."

[Y, you could hear me? Do you hear me, master?!]

I was able to hear her, but wasn't able to talk. I didn't have the strength left to answer her. Instead, I raised my head, which felt like lifting a ten ton boulder, and slightly nodded to let her know that I was listening.

Amaterasu's voice calmed up a bit, and she let out a sigh of relief.

[Thank the heavens... I know this is your first time, master. But you have to flow spiritual energy through your body. Remember what I told you! Imagine your body made out of water! And feel your spirit mixing into that water! Hurry! Before your body stops functioning!]

Amaterasu's voice was in a hurry, and with a good reason. My mind and body was already a mess as it is. I didn't want to know what would happen to me or Chihiri, if this kept on going for too long.

'Wa..ter... Spiri..t...'

My head felt like splitting in half whenever I tried to think. The agony wasn't going anywhere and kept tormenting me inside out. My thoughts, my consciousness was smashed to pieces by constant pain. I kept on breathing to focus, and tried to piece together my messed up mind.

"Hah...Hah..."

I had to do this quick. My breathing was getting faster and faster. I was gulping in air like crazy, and yet I felt like I was being suffocated. It was only a matter of time, before I lose complete control of everything.

As I tried to calm down my mind, I realized how fucked I was right now. Unlike my visions, I've never used spiritual energy before. And everything was depended on something I knew nothing of whatsoever. I couldn't even do it the first time I tried, and that was when I could still think properly.

Amaterasu was believing in me that I could do this. I didn't want to deny her faith, but I couldn't even believe in myself that I'll be able to. It seemed near impossible to do anything, when my body and mind won't even function right.

'Water... Spirit... Water... Spirit...'

But unlike my thoughts, I was actually thinking with no problem. In fact, I was able to think deeper than usual. So much so, that it felt like everything around me suddenly stopped. I didn't know what was causing this. Maybe the pain was so much that I couldn't feel it anymore. Or maybe my brain was being stimulated to the pain, before it gets fried by it. However the questions soon faded, as my mind fell deeper and deeper. It was like my mind was getting sucked into a giant and endless abyss.

My body no longer felt solid anymore. I was able to perfectly imagine my body turning into liquid. Almost feeling like I could just melt away. The feeling was extremely weird. But at the same time felt very natural, like my body was meant to be like this.

However, I felt something else besides my liquid body. My mind falling into an abyss, wasn't just a mere feeling. Around me, was a literal black abyss sucking me deeper like a whirlpool.

'What is that?... Is that my spirit, or my spiritual energy?...'

I had no idea what it was, since I didn't even imagine it. I wondered what I should be doing next. And then, without me even thinking about it, 'something' began to rotate within the chest part of my liquid body. The feeling of it was like my body getting stirred by a blender.

At that moment, like a calm before the storm, the abyss that was pulling me in stopped.

'W, What?!'

The somewhat slow speed of the rotation, suddenly spiked up and turned into a violent current. I didn't feel any sort of pain. But the current was so strong, I was afraid that it would shred my body apart. It grew stronger and stronger, like there was no limit to it.

And what happened next, was beyond my imagination.

FUOOOOOO

The current kept on getting stronger, until it began to make a vacuum. It was no longer a simple rotating current. It became a vortex. Which began to suck everything around me like a black hole.

Everything was being sucked into the vortex. Including the abyss that sucked me in.

'Uuu!... Uaaa!...'

The vortex was no smaller than my hand. But it's power was strong enough to be a force of nature, and I was standing right in the center of it. With my body being the vortex, I wasn't getting sucked in. But for how long? The vortex's power was far beyond my reach to stop it. It consumed almost all of the abyss, and it still wasn't getting any weaker.

'I... I can't... take this... any longer...'

My body felt like it was about to fall apart. Being at the dead center, I could feel the vortex's raw power. One by one, the parts of my body felt numb, like I was slowly getting sucked into the vortex. The vortex wasn't going to stop until it sucked in everything. Along with me.

When it became harder to tell if I was still 'me', the entire abyss had vanished into the vortex. With nothing to suck in, it was obvious that I was next. There was no way that I could withstand the vortex's power. Seeing how the vortex swallowed an entire abyss, I was sure that I would be gone in an instant.

'W, Wha?...'

It didn't happen. The vortex suddenly stopped. The strong suction that was sucking everything in, was gone like it never happened. All that was left was me.

'Huh? Something is...'

A warm energy ran through my body. My body got warmer, like I was bathing in sunlight. Just a second ago, my body and mind was weak as shattered glass. But now, I was overflowing with power. I've never felt this kind of power in all of my life. It felt like I could take on almost anything.

'This energy... Is this my spiritual energy? But how? What is doing th-'

My words came to a halt. Something was circling inside my chest. I could still feel the presence of the vortex in me. But it wasn't the same. The vortex wasn't rotating violently. It was rotating in a gentle rhythm, like it was my own heart beat. The rotation has also changed, and the vortex no longer sucked in things, but was rather letting out. In this case, the warm energy that I was feeling right now.

'So this is it...'

I didn't need to think or doubt what this energy was. I knew it the moment I felt it running through my body. This was the energy that could materialize Amaterasu. This was

'My spiritual energy.'

Now that I got this, I just had one more problem left. How was I going to wake up, when I'm already awa-

"Hah!... Hah!... W, Whoa..."

I opened my eyes and woke up instantly. I was back. Still lying in the ground of shattered asphalt, like I remembered. My face was dripping with sweat. I washed the running down sweat with my hand, and I noticed that I was able to move my body again. My breathing got a lot better, too. Not only that, the pain and the chill that ate away at me completely disappeared.

[Master! You... You succeeded! I can feel your spiritual energy inside you! A, Are you feeling okay?]

"Yeah, I'm fine. But what about Chihi-"

 **"HOLY SHIT! Wh, Wh, What?!"**

Before I could finish my sentence, Chihiri woke up screaming. She raised her upper body off the ground, and quickly looked around her surroundings, while heavily breathing like she just woke up from a coma.

 **[Uwah! Chihiri sama's awake?!]**

"Ch, Chihiri!"

Chihiri's body jumped when I called out to her. She swiftly turned her upper body, and saw me still lying on the ground.

"I, Itou! Thank god you're alive..."

"Y, You too..."

While looking at each other, we both let out a sigh of relief.

"Are you okay? How did you wake up?"

"I, I don't know. I was just... Wait, why are you holding my hand?"

Chihiri asked me while looking down. I looked at the same direction as she did, and saw my right hand firmly holding her left. I didn't even realize that I was holding her hand, until she just reminded me right now.

"Huh? When did I... I don't even remember reaching out to you."

 **[So that's it! The spiritual energy traveled through master's entire body. And because you were holding on to Chihiri sama, your spiritual energy must've moved to her as well, master!]**

"Really? Wow, thanks for saving my ass, Ito... Wait, spiritual energy? You're able to do that now?!"

"Yeah. I still have no idea how this works, but at least I know I have it..."

"Well, Well, Well! I guess you're not as useless as I thought!"

Our words were silenced at a roaring laughter. Me and Chihiri shuddered the moment we heard the sound. We both pulled ourselves off the ground, and quickly stood up. The Megacolony units, Master beetle and several of the Tail joes, were still surrounding the area, while looking at us like we were zoo animals.

 **[Don't let your guard down, master!]**

"Don't have to tell me twice!"

"Uh, Itou? Can you let me go now?"

Still holding my hand, Chihiri tried to take her hand off me. I was going to let her, until I realized something and quickly clutched my grasp, before Chihiri could retreat her hand.

"W, Wait!"

"Hey, you don't have to keep holding my hand, you know? How are we going to fight these bugs, when we're holding hands like some kind of kindergarteners!"

"Ugh! You don't think I know that? You heard what Amaterasu said. You woke up because my spiritual energy ran through you, while we were holding hands. What do you think will happen, if you try to do the opposite?"

"...Right. Got it..."

Understanding exactly what I was saying, Chihiri nodded her head and kept holding my hand. For a second, I saw Chihiri's face filled with fear, and her whole body shaking. Then Chihiri immediately shook her head, and covered it up like it was nothing. But it was obvious that whatever the Master beetle did to us, took a huge toll on Chihiri. She didn't want to go through it a second time, and I knew exactly how Chihiri felt.

 **"Holding hands? This isn't a date, you know? How am I going to take you seriously, if you bugs are not even trying?"**

 **[Don't listen to it, master!]**

"I know."

The Master beetle taunted us of holding hands. But me and Chihiri saw what it's motives were, and we ignored every word it was saying to us.

"W, Whoa... It... doesn't hurt anymore... I'm all right!"

Chihiri was surprised that she didn't pass out like she did before. She looked down at my hand, which was grabbing her's with amazement. I was also surprised, that it worked as well as I thought it would.

"I guess my spiritual energy is actually doing something."

"Although, I'm still scared shitless to that thing..."

"Same here..."

Chihiri's body was still trembling, and so did mine. It wasn't complete torture like the first time, but it was enough to make me fall down, if I loosened my legs for even a second. It was raw instinct telling me that I have no chance against a thing that huge. But I kept my feet on the ground. Mustered all of my courage to confront the gigantic bug.

When it realized that we weren't going to listen, the Master beetle stopped it's taunts, like it was no longer fun.

 **"Huh. Looks like you bugs DO have brains, after all. You two are the first humans to withstand my 'pressure'. I'm starting to like what I have here!"**

"'Pressure'?"

"What the hell's that bug saying?"

 **[It's what the Master beetle was doing to you two. Units from Megacolony have several ways to paralyze their foes. One of those ways is 'pressure'. They manipulate their own spiritual energy flow, and emit a wave that paralyzes the enemy's body around them. The way to counteract this, is to flow spiritual energy around your body, like what you're doing, master.]**

Without even studdering, Amaterasu easily explained to us the secrets of Master beetle's tricks. It was good to have someone so knowledgeable like Amaterasu on our side. But what kinda bothered me was...

"Kinda wish you told that sooner, Amaterasu..."

 **[I, I'm sorry. The Master beetle was already using 'pressure', that I didn't realize it until it was too late.]**

"You don't need to apologize. It was an ambush, after all."

There was no way she could know. I wasn't the one to say to her, when I was the one who should be seeing these things.

"Hey, cut Amaterasu some slack, Itou. You know that she's trying her best to help us."

Looking displeased, Chihiri strongly squeezed my hand with her's, like she was trying to break my fingers.

"Ow... I wasn't trying to. I just wished we heard it sooner, that's all."

"Next time, do it without the sass, all right?"

"All right."

After hearing me say it, Chihiri eased her grip on me. When I felt blood running through my hand again, I slid closer to Chihiri. Then, I whispered to her ears, and said...

 **"Need your help..."**

"H, Huh?..."

Completely confused, Chihiri turned her head and looked at me funny. Through her eyes, Chihiri was demanding me for more context. But I took a step back away from her, and closed my mouth. Because it seemed that we weren't going to be able to talk much, anytime soon.

 **Thum!**

With a huge sound, the ground and the buildings around us shook. Just like I saw in my vision, Master beetle took a single step towards us. We almost fell down because of it. I couldn't believe that the shock was caused by Master beetle's single step, until I felt it for myself.

We were overwhelmed, and the Master beetle knew it so well. The big grin on the it's face, said it all.

 **"You know, when I first saw you two, I thought the Tail joes were screwing with me. Bringing two worthless humans, who has no spiritual energy flowing through their bodies. But who would've thought! A shitty pair, turning into a straight! In front of my eyes, even! If that's not drama worthy, I don't know what is!"**

Still holding the giant sword in it's hand, The Master beetle happily clapped it's hands together. Master beetle's handclaps, was like listening to two bulldozers banging into each other. Even the Tail joes were suffering from the noise. With no way to make it stop, we had to endure the god forsaken noise, until the Master beetle eventually stopped.

 **"I'm in a really good mood. So for once, I'll try to be 'nice' and skip the bullshit for you two. White hair punk. I'll give you the honor to be Megacolony's pioneer."**

"What?..."

"Pioneer, like their leader? Amaterasu, is that possible?"

 **[N, No. A pioneer can only take in one clan. What is it thinking, asking that to master?]**

The Master beetle said in a tone like it was already decided, while pointing it's tree trunk like finger towards me. I was honestly surprised, not because I was offered as their pioneer. I was surprised, that the bug which tried to make us almost brain dead, actually giving a genuine proposal, and not a threat.

But foolish me, my surprises didn't last very long.

 **"Oh, and I should let you know, since you just unlocked your spiritual energy flow. If you even try to call out your unit, which I'll certainly know if you do... Well, I believe you're smart enough to know what'll happen. Just don't try to do anything stupid, and you'll live. For now."**

Right after it finished it's words, the Tail joes behind us loudly shook it's metal plating all at once, as if giving us a warning. Even without the Master beetle's orders, they were already eager to kill us. Hearing the noises behind me, I stood still like the Master beetle expected me to do. As much as I hated to admit it, the best thing to do right now was to stand down. The Master beetle's words were full of shit, but it's threats were true to the core.

 **"Look at you. Actually listening to what I'm saying. Just give me a yes, and I'll MAYBE let your brown hair friend live. You have my word."**

The Master beetle looked at Chihiri for a second, and then turned it's head to me. The Master beetle's target was me, and yet it wasn't laying a finger on Chihiri, even though she had no use to it. Except one. To eliminate my choices even further, by using her as a bargaining chip. Seeing Chihiri and then me, was it's way of telling me, that she'll be dead if I refuse to be their lap dog.

When my head was filled with worries, Chihiri suddenly gritted her teeth, and walked towards the Master beetle.

"Oh, you'll 'maybe' let me live? You stink of bullshit, that even the birds in the skies are avoiding this part of the city! You're going to kill me anyway. Which means your threats don't mean shit to me! So why don't you take your half ass words, and shove it back in your mouth!"

After shouting all of the words from her stomach, Chihiri finished her sentence by flipping her middle finger to the Master beetle. The Master beetle's body trembled. However it didn't shout back at Chihiri. Or even try to kill her on the spot. It grabbed it's stomach, and laughed out loud.

 **"Hahahahah! Shit, didn't expect you to have some balls there! You're the first human to stand up to me like that! Of course, they couldn't even speak cause their brains were fried. I like you! Even though you're all bark and no bite. And because I like you, I'm going to pretend that you didn't just waste your last words, okay?"**

"Wow, you like me? I don't know how I should feel about being liked by a giant piece of turd..."

"Chihiri! Less talk, the better!"

There was a line, and Chihiri was standing awfully close to it. I quickly covered Chihiri's mouth with my hand. Her voice muffled by my hand, I pulled Chihiri back away from Master beetle as far as possible.

 **"Good move. Cause I was starting to get sick of that brat's talking."**

"Wha- I'll show-"

Chihiri was pissed off. Struggling to take my hand off of her mouth. For her sake, I kept my hand firmly on Chihiri's mouth. Chihiri eventually calmed down, and I let my hand off of her, after she agreed to not piss off the Master beetle.

 **"Come on, white hair. This isn't a bad deal at all. You get to serve beings far superior than your own race. It's far noble than you think."**

The Master beetle tried to 'persuade' me with words. But it was obvious that Master beetle was full of lies. The Master beetle didn't even seem to try. It was so blatant, that it was almost a joke. Nothing it said made me change my mind. The only thing that made me think about it, was letting Chihiri go. And even that promise seemed like the Master beetle would break without a thought.

"Serve? Don't you mean use me as an energy tank?"

 **"Hah! Was it that obvious? I guess I'm not a very good liar."**

"What makes you think I'll agree to that?"

 **"You're saying that, because you didn't see how we treat a 'real' energy tank. We wouldn't want you to die, so we'll be taking good care of you. After all, you're important. Unlike these 'fools'."**

The Master beetle suddenly moved it's left hand to it's right shoulder. With the thumb and index finger, the Master beetle pulled out something small from it's shoulder, looking like it was picking off a bug.

At first, I had trouble seeing it so far. But the thing between the Master beetle's fingers. It's shape was oddly familiar. It almost looked like...

"A... human?!"

The head, body, legs, it was now impossible to miss it. It looked like a very small doll, compared to Master beetle's fingers.

 **"Correct! Even if they're not Psyqualia users, the spiritual energy that normal humans contain in them, do get the job done. Although, the spiritual energy that they have, is nowhere enough to satisfy all of us. So we catch a dozen humans for maintenance, and I store them around my body. Just in case. We wouldn't want our precious 'batteries' to be gone... Oh. Looks like this one finally ran out."**

 **Crunch-**

Without a second thought, Master beetle squashed the person between it's fingers, into a bloody pulp. We couldn't see the actual body being damaged. But the one second of sound of it happening, was enough detail that we didn't need. There was zero effort on Master beetle's action. It happened so fast. And at the same time, so simple.

 **"Uh, gross."**

Rubbing it's fingers together, Master beetle frowned and flung the remains of the body with it's fingertips, like flinging something dirty off your hand.

The pulp that was once a body, flew somewhere far away where we couldn't see where it went.

"Uph!..."

"Hah... Hah..."

If it had landed here, me and Chihiri would've definitely be throwing up our insides right now. But even without seeing it. Just imagining about the squashed body and the dreadful sound, made our insides feel extremely uncomfortable.

We covered up both of our mouths, and barely held in the nausea. .

"So that guy we saw before the attack... He was just 'one' of their energy supplies..."

"Yeah... And kept 'safe'..."

The Megacolony units weren't dumb to just leave their precious energy source laying around in plain sight. When we saw the man guarded by the Tail joes, I thought we had a chance, if we just played our cards right.

But the Master beetle guarding them? We had absolutely no chance. As long as we were humans. No muscles, no brains were able to go up against a murderous eight story titan. It was impossible to reach the person, when they were way out of our reach. Even harder to lay a scratch on the Master beetle. Which meant our plan of attacking their energy source, had no chance to succeed.

 **[H, How could it do something so... Barbaric...]**

Amaterasu's disgust towards the Megacolony units, were all the explanation we needed. About how they looked down on not just us, but every human that they saw. Thinking humans as nothing but disposable tools, that exists only for their needs.

I clenched my fist so hard, that it shook on it's own. Fear wasn't the only thing that I was feeling right now. Seeing the Master beetle's atrocious actions made my blood pumping with rage.

They were going to bring nothing but chaos to everyone in this earth. If I were to become their pioneer, I would rather commit suicide before it even happens.

"Psst..."

Chihiri stepped a little closer to me, and quietly whispered to my ear.

"How much longer?"

"This is harder than I thought... But I'm starting to get the hang of it."

"Well, do it fast. That turd bug isn't going to wait that long."

Chihiri looked at my fist for a second, and gave a slight slap on my right thigh. It's like she was telling me to keep concentrating. Thanks to her notice, I calmed down my anger, and got back on doing my thing.

But the Master beetle didn't leave me alone.

 **"So, what's your answer?"**

"What, you're not even going to ask my name first?"

 **"Your name? Why the hell would I want to know that?"**

"Well, it's important to know if you're trying to persuade..."

 **"I don't give a crap. If you really want a name, how about 'livestock A'. It'll fit your role."**

I'd no longer consider myself as a human, if I were really called by that name. Apparently, the part where Master beetle said 'taking care', didn't seem to include knowing anything about me.

But whatever. That wasn't the part I was focusing about. What was, is to keep the Megacolony units from 'noticing'.

'All right... Just a bit more...'

"How am I certain that you'll let Chihiri go?"

Before saying anything, the Master beetle let out a deep, hot breath. It was a sigh mixed with irritation, frustration, and so. So much anger.

 **"You really still think you have a say in this? Why the fuck do I have to prove anything to you? There's only one answer! You can't even answer one thing? All right, if you don't want to, then say good bye..."**

The Master beetle raised it's hand and tried to snap it's finger. Several sounds of metal clanking rang loudly behind us, as every single Tail joes reacted all at once.

I quickly shook my head before the Master beetle could give the signal.

"N, No! I get it! J, Just give me more time to get my heart ready. Please. This could be my final moment to be free."

The Master beetle lowered it's hand while snickering at my desperation. It seemed to enjoy how pathetic I looked and had a good laugh. For about five seconds, before it turned back to be irritated again. Master beetle clearly didn't forget how angry it was.

'Almost got it...'

 **"Hey. Need I remind you, that I could just use force. But I'm not doing that, because I'm REALLY trying to be 'nice', and I don't want to make you into a bloody paste by accident, cause I'm THIS CLOSE! So enough with the fucking gibbering, and give me an answer."**

"B, But what if..."

 **KAHBOOWW!**

I was cut short, when the Master beetle violently kicked a random van that was close to it. The sounds of broken glass and metal being crushed rang out loud, as the heavy looking van went flying like a cannonball.

 **""Khak!""**

Passing me and Chihiri in an instant, the car squashed two Tail joes behind us.

"W, W, Wha..."

My body was frozen solid. The Master beetle's feet was actually slightly off course, when it kicked the van. Luck or not, if the Master beetle did kick it right, the van would've went right for us.

Master beetle REALLY tried to kill us. Me and Chihiri just literally dodged a bullet.

 **PHOOOW!**

The Master beetle lowered it's body and smashed the ground with it's fist. Huge shock waves spread everywhere. The ground shook big time, that our bodies literally jumped from the ground. Master beetle's giant face was right in front of us. With it being this close, we could see every single detail of Master beetle's already terrifying face.

Letting out a foul breath, Master beetle opened it's mouth full of knife like teeth. Leering us with bug eyes almost big as a window.

 **"Since you seem to like talking, how about I give a try? ANSWER. RIGHT. NOW. If you don't, I'll feed your bitch's flesh while I rip her apart. You're going to need that. Cause after that, I'm going to rip out everything from your body, except the bare minimum parts that keep you alive. You think I can't do it? Then please, try and say no."**

Master beetle was this close to just eating us whole. It's vein filled eyes were begging us to say no.

 **"Ten seconds. That's all you get. Pass that, you're officially a lump of meat."**

Master beetle's patience was way past it's limit. It stood up and took a step back, like it was our last chance. In case I didn't answer, or say no, Master beetle fiercely grinded it's arm blade at the nearest tall building, like it was using a whetstone.

The sound of metal and concrete grinding into each other, was like a clock. Ticking the last seconds we had left. But even when the situation was so dire. I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

With a faint smile on my face, I gave a slight nudge to Chihiri's arm.

"You ready to go?"

"Yup. Ready as I'll ever be."

Chihiri nodded her head like she understood. She let out a deep sigh, before things got 'started'.

Ten seconds. It was all I needed to follow what I've 'learned'.

After ruining a huge side of the building's wall, Master beetle raised it's eyebrows and looked at me weird, that I was smiling in this situation.

 **"What, did you suddenly lose your mind, or something? What's so funny that you're smiling about? I hope you have your answer now. Cause..."**

"Yeah, I have your answer. And it's yes."

Master beetle's cheeks noticeably went up. It's frowning and massively pissed off face quickly changed, and was now creepily smiling at my approval.

 **"HAHAHA! So you decided to protect your life, like the coward you are! A wise choice! Now, burn your card and take my..."**

"I mean, it's the least I can do. Since you and the Tail joes were so kind enough to let me finish."

 **"'Finish'? Finish what?"**

 **"Amaterasu teaching me to 'materialize a unit', of course."**

 **"...Huh?..."**

Completely at loss of words, Master beetle stood still, like it's thoughts just froze up. It, and the rest of the Tail joes were so dumbfounded to even react. Seeing their idiotic reactions made me want to burst into laughter. I held out Amaterasu's card and showed it in front of Master beetle.

Master beetle and the Tail joes think, and treat humans as nothing but energy supplies for their needs. Focusing only on harvesting spiritual energy. They don't even seem to care how many people die in the process. Making peace with humans were just jokes to them.

That's why Master beetle and the Tail joes know nothing. They're too busy sucking out energy, that they wouldn't even dream, that a pioneer can also talk to it's unit telepathically!

"Thanks for letting me learn how to materialize, you retards!"

 **"URAHHHH! YOU FUCKING SNAKEEEEE! TAIL JOES! RIP THAT FUCKER APART!"**

 **"""KUAAAA!"""**

Just now realizing that they were played, Master beetle and the Tail joes furiously rushed at us all at once. But at the same time they started, I was just getting finished. It took some time, but I was finally able to feel Amateratsu's spiritual energy wave. It was like feeling someone else's heartbeat, while also feeling mine at the same time.

 **'Now the last part... Pouring my spiritual energy at the card, with all my might!'**

Just like Amaterasu's instructions, I grabbed her card as hard as I can, while putting every strength I could muster to my fingertips. And I imagined. The spiral of energy inside me, flowing into Amaterasu's card.

I felt the same hazy feeling whenever I see a vision, but somehow feeling different, like something has changed that I didn't even know what it was. My heart pounded wildly, almost to the point of feeling like something was trying to burst out of me. And yet, feeling comfortable at the same time. It was like feeling chaos and harmony at the same time.

Not even knowing what would happen next, 'it' finally happened.

 **FHUOOOOO-**

A 'Ki' like energy stream, glowing in the color of bright gold, came bursting out of my body and was sucked right into Amaterasu's card. Chihiri, who was panicking at the raging Megacolony units, was left staring quietly at the sight of golden light.

"So that's Itou's spiritual energy..."

My reactions weren't so different from Chihiri. I've only felt it until now. This was also my first time seeing my own spiritual energy in person. It was hard to believe something that beautiful came out of my body. But admiring the view has to come another time. Right now, is the time bust some fucking bug skulls!

 **"DIEEEEE!"**

 **"Here goes nothing, Amaterasu!"**

 **[Yes, master!]**

I raised Amaterasu's card high above my head, which was now full of spiritual energy. Visions of us getting mauled to death by Master beetle's blade, and Tail joe's pincers kept flashing through my eyes. But even seeing that, I didn't feel the cold fear of death. Rather, I felt hope that was warm as the sun. A hope that me and Chihiri could overcome this.

Feeling the warm feeling running through my whole body, I yelled out as loud as I could.

 **"Materialize! CEO Amaterasu!"**

* * *

 **Hey guys! Sorry for being late. Final exams and such... The good part about it, is that I got semi good grades. So... Yay?**

 **It's obvious that my uploads are slow compared to the first. Well, that's because I'm writing this, and my korean one at the same time. The korean one is the latest story. The third story, actually. So if I write this, I write my korean one, and if I finish that, I write this. I just don't want to stop either parts, so I hope you can understand?... Or not?...**

 **Anyway, I will try to upload as soon as possible. Hope you leave some comments, cause I'm thirsty for opinions! Bu- bye! Winter vacation, woo!**


	10. Chapter 10- Wrath of the goddess

**Shit I hate being late...**

* * *

 **Zuuuuu-**

At the same time my voice rang, bright rays of red light came flashing out of Amaterasu's card. It looked more like a bomb, that was going to blow up. The red lights shined on not only us, but the several Tail joes and the Master beetle as well. When their blades were mere centimeters away from touching us...

 **"""KUAAKKKK!"""**

 **"AUKKKK!"**

The red rays quickly turned into deadly lasers, blasting all of the Tail joes and the Master beetle. The bugs went flying backwards, as their agonizing screams rang loudly across the streets. Master beetle's gigantic body was thrown like a softball, and got crashed into a building.

The Tail joes on the other hand, were cut clean in half by the lasers. Their metal plating weren't strong enough to block the laser, and was melted down like butter. Both the Master beetle, and the Tail joes stopped moving all together.

Master beetle and Tail joes. The bugs that we thought were unbeatable, was knocked down in mere seconds.

"What... in the world just..."

"Itou, that lasers... It just knocked those bugs out with no problem!"

"But it didn't hurt us. Even though we were exposed to the red light."

"Oh, yeah...It did, didn't it?"

We had the same red light shining on us. Rays powerful enough to cut/ take down a giant bug, should've cut me and Chihiri into pieces by now. And yet we were left unharmed. The lights which were deadly lasers to the bugs, were instead comfortable to us, like taking in warm sunlight.

 **"Well, of course. There's no way I would harm master or Chihiri sama."**

"Huh?..."

Me and Chihiri both looked up where Amaterasu's voice came. And at the same time, we were left speechless.

Wearing a traditional beautiful kimono, shining in bright orange and gold, we saw a goddess with shining beauty like the sun. The whitest of skin, jewel like sparkling eyes, everything about her was like a piece carved into perfection. Amaterasu's long silky black hair, flowed gently in the air like a stream, while she slowly descended to the ground. It was a sight that was nothing less of godly.

When Amaterasu came down to the same ground next to us, me and Chihiri's face turned bright red and our hearts kept beating like crazy. We both couldn't think straight, like me and Chihiri were bewitched by Amaterasu.

"Uh... Master? Chihiri sama? Are you two alright?"

When I got my head straight, Amaterasu was waving her hand in front of me. Both shocked and somehow feeling embarrassed, I jumped back a bit, and shook my head to stay cool and focused.

"Oh! Uh.. Yeah. I'm fine. Um, Amaterasu? I know this might sound weird, but can you give me your hand for a second?"

"My hand?"

Amaterasu gave me a curious look, as if she also thought that this was an odd request. Amaterasu looked at the front and back of her hand for a moment, and held it out in front of me. As expected from her, Amaterasu's hand was beautiful as she was. Her slender fingers, glistening nails and flawless fine skin, was like looking at an idol's hand, that I was kinda nervous to touch it.

After taking a small gulp, I reached out my hand and slightly touched her fingertip.

Tut-

I could actually touch and feel Amaterasu's hand. I was surprised how smooth her skin felt. And the warmth from her hand was so relaxing, that just by touching it, felt like I was in a warm and comfortable blanket. I wanted to hold her hand, but I held back the urge to, and pulled back my hand before I change my mind.

"Wow. You really are real..."

I looked at Amaterasu with amazement.

"Of course. Did you think I would be a hologram?"

"N, No. It's just that... You looked so beautiful, and thought that couldn't be real... W, What the hell am I saying?! F, Forget I said that!"

My words just came out of my mouth without even crossing the brain, to think about how embarrassing that sounded. My cheeks became so red, that they were literally flaming hot right now. I turned my head left away from Amaterasu, so that she couldn't see what a mess I looked like.

"I'm... Beautiful?... U, Umm... It's a little embarrassing, but I'm glad... you think so?..."

Amaterasu slightly scratched her cheeks(which also turned red), while fidgeting her body like she didn't know how to react to my compliment. However, Amaterasu seemed to like it, and she quietly laughed to herself, while giving me a warm smile like saying 'thank you' without saying it.

I've seen Amaterasu in her card form before, and she was pretty even then. But seeing her like this in person was a whole new level. And seeing her cute reaction, the impact of it was making my heart skip a beat.

"I guess she's not called a goddess for nothing... How am I going to keep seeing her, if she's that..."

"Hm? Master, why are you whispering to yourself?"

Amaterasu surprisingly caught my mumbling, and immediately asked me about it. I thought I was talking pretty quietly, but I guess I was wrong.

"Ah! No, this is!... Uh... H, Hey, Chihiri! Don't keep your mouth open, and say something!"

To avoid things getting embarrassing and awkward again, I dodged Amaterasu's question and decided to bring Chihiri in. I pulled Chihiri's hand and tried to put her in front of Amaterasu. Hoping that this will change the subject.

Chihiri still stood like a statue and kept looking into Amaterasu's bright brown eyes. Until...

 **"Yaaaahhhh!"**

"Kyah?!"

"Wa! What's wrong, Chihiri?!"

Suddenly, Chihiri just shouted out of nowhere, and quickly dashed towards Amaterasu. Seeing Amaterasu with eyes like they had a fire in them, Chihiri was like a hungry wolf that spotted it's prey. Amaterasu, who kept her cool even when the bugs attacked, flinched in terror, while screaming like a little girl who was bound to go through a lot of therapy.

And then...

 **"Will you marry me, O' beautiful one?"**

Chihiri slid the ground with her knees and stopped right in front of Amaterasu. While kneeling with glowing eyes, she placed her left hand(which was holding mine) to her chest, and stretched out her right hand to Amaterasu like some kind of wedding proposal.

'The hell?...'

I gave my hand, and my face a proper meeting together. If I was able to reboot my brain, I would do it in an instant, so I can get this ridiculous scene out of my life. I swear if this was a manga, there would be wind sound effects by now.

"...Ex..cuse me?..."

Amaterasu was confused beyond her understanding. Back and forth, Amaterasu looked at Chihiri and then to me several times, like she was trying to search for answers. Through body language, I told Amaterasu to ignore what Chihiri is saying, by shaking my head and hand left and right.

After that, I eased up my fingers for action and walked towards Chihiri, who was using some half assed pickup lines to try to impress Amaterasu. Which sounded familiar, since it came from all the animes and mangas Chihiri watched.

"If you give half of your life to me, I shall give half of my life to, OWOWOWOW!"

"How about, before you give someone your life, why don't you take care of it, so that you don't pull pranks like this. Hm?~ Doesn't that sound good?~"

"UOUOUOUO! Iduo! N bibe ub! N bibe ub!(OWOWOWOW! Itou! I give up! I give up!)"

Cheek pinching is the perfect cure for fixing a troublemaker. Pinching both sides even helps Chihiri to listen to reason. I'm not a sadist or anything, but it was surprisingly enjoyable to me. Her cheeks were soft, and even stretched out like marshmallows.

After getting Chihiri's promise to behave, I released her cheeks which turned really red from all the stretching. While giving Chihiri some time to cool off her cheeks, I turned my head towards Amaterasu.

"I didn't know that you were this strong, Amaterasu. When you took out those bugs, I was like 'holy shit'! I had goosebumps all over my arm."

"Well, I'm strong because I have you, master. A pioneer is important to a unit, as a unit is important to the pio... I'm sorry, but would you excuse me for a moment, master?"

 **Fwoosh-**

"I, I don't mind, but for wha..."

Amaterasu held out her hand forward, and then a giant barrier wall shining in gold light, appeared in front of us.

 **"HA!"**

And in the blink of an eye, it blocked Master beetle's huge fist, which swiftly came down from the sky.

 **BHAM!**

The sound of the impact violently rang like a thunderclap. Huge shock waves spreaded throughout the wall, that the barrier looked like it was vibrating on it's own. But despite how it looked, Amaterasu's barrier didn't budge to the attack, and even bounced off Master beetle's fist.

 **"Damn it! Then how about this!"**

Right after bouncing off, Master beetle grabbed the barrier with it's hand. In the other hand, it radiated a disturbing looking dark energy, and curled it's fingers into a fist to strike the barrier again.

"When will you learn that you are over matched!"

Amaterasu's hand was faster. She pointed her fingertip to where Master beetle was, and lowered it straight to the ground.

 **"Kurg!"**

Suddenly, Master beetle's gigantic body lied flat on the ground in an instant, like something extremely heavy was pushing it down.

"You can control gravity, too?!"

"Well, a little? Though, I can only hit targets that are in one place."

"That is so coo..."

All of a sudden, I saw another vision appear. Showing right behind our backs, some of the Tail joes were still alive, even when they were cut in half. They were running towards us at full speed, while letting out red lights, that were glowing between the gaps on their black plating.

I had a good idea on what the red lights meant.

 **"Urgh!... Tail joes! Attac..."**

"Amaterasu! The Tail joes are coming at us from behind! Take them down, before they self destruct!"

 **"What?! H, How did you?!"**

"Wait, those centipedes? How're they still alive... Whoa!"

Me and Chihiri looked back at the same time. The Tail joes that were lying dead on the ground, weren't in the same place when we first saw them. And just like my vision, a dozen of Tail joes ran towards us from the ground, and the building walls. Even though they were missing half of their body, the Tail joes still moved pretty fast.

 **"K-K- &U-A%!"**

 **"K-KILL THE#! B-B-BL T*EM! RI & THEM TO P-PIECES!"**

The Tail joe's stutters were even worse. They were barely functioning from the laser's damage. Leaving trails of black fluid behind them, it was almost a miracle that the Tail joes were able to even move. Blowing themselves up, was the only weapon they had left, since they were going to cease their functions shortly. Because they had nothing to lose, the Tail joes looked more frightening than ever. Their eyes dripping with black fluid, all they seemed to care about now, was to take us with them.

"As ordered! Chihiri sama! Master! Step aside!"

"G, Got it!"

We quickly ran behind Amaterasu.

 **"""T-T-T-TOO LATE!"""**

When they were barely two meters away, the Tail joes jumped high and swooped us all at once. The red lights on their bodies started to flicker very fast. Like a siren warning us that the Tail joes were going to soon blow up.

"I will not let you harm master, or Chihiri sama! **Gaia pillars(Flame of earth)!"**

Amaterasu turned her palm to the ground. And from it, seven huge pillars of fire came bursting out, and burned Tail joes to a crisp, until there was nothing left of their bodies. The ones from behind couldn't do anything while in mid air, and jumped into the fire like moths to a flame.

"Whew..."

Amaterasu let out a sigh, as every single Tail joes were burned away to ashes. At the same time Amaterasu clutched her hand, the pillars of fire immediately stopped and vanished completely, like it's job was done.

Seeing there was nothing left of the Tail joes, me and Chihiri walked forward both relieved, and both worried at the same time.

"Wow. You actually took them all out. That was fantastic, Amaterasu."

"My pleasure, master."

Making a faint smile, Amaterasu slightly bowed her head to me, like some kind of royal princess. Which doesn't seem that far off, if I think about it.

"Thank god that they didn't blow up. How did you stop them from exploding?"

Chihiri asked a good question. Normally you don't use fire to get rid of explosives. That tends to blow up instead of stopping it.

"Well, technically I did not stop anything."

"What do you mean?"

"I simply just burned every part of Tail joe's body."

"...And that helps how?..."

"An explosive is dangerous, IF it detonates. If every part of the bomb burns away at the same time, there's nothing TO cause an explosion."

""...Ok, then.""

Me and Chihiri just nodded our heads in agreement. Unlike her appearance, Amaterasu's methods were quite... rough.

'I hope she doesn't try that way on gunpowder...'

Now that the Tail joes were out of the way, we turned our heads to the next 'problem'. An eight story tall bug, laying flat on the ground.

Unlike the Tail joes who got destroyed by a single shot, Master beetle's armor was thick and durable enough to withstand Amaterasu's attack. Thanks to that, it was the only Megacolony unit that was still alive.

"Your troops have fallen, Master beetle. I suggest you don't try anything stupid."

 **"Ugh!... Hehehe, look at you. Getting rid of a couple of bugs, and you're already on your high horse. Pathet.. Arrgh!"**

"Your attitude will bring nothing but pain to yourself."

Master beetle screamed in agony as the gravity pressing it's body became more stronger. The force of the gravity began to sink the very ground where Master beetle was laying down. Loud bone breaking sounds came from within Master beetle's body. Not only that, even it's sturdy armor started to crack by the lethal force. I didn't care about Master beetle getting hurt, but seeing it in this magnitude made me feel slightly uncomfortable.

When Master beetle was unable to talk from the pain, Amaterasu weakened the gravity while still pressing Master beetle to the ground.

"Is there anything else you might want to say?"

 **"Ha.. Ha... Heh, you think... I don't know that you're just... going to end me? I got... nothing to say except... Fuck you."**

Even going through the pain of it's body being crushed, Master beetle snickered while still keeping it's irritating tone. Amaterasu closed her eyes for a second and let out a deep saddening sigh. Her asking Master beetle might have been for information, or seeking a chance of redemption towards it.

Master beetle had neither.

"...Very well. For all the horrid actions your kind has done, I, Amaterasu shall execute..."

A massive amount of spiritual energy came pouring out of Amaterasu, as she lifted her left hand towards the sky. Absolutely filled with spirit energy, Amaterasu's hand no longer felt like a normal hand even though it looked the same as before. It was more like a gigantic ax, bigger than anything I could imagine, that was ready to chop off Master beetle in a heart beat.

"Wait."

"M, Master?..."

Amaterasu stuttered and halted her hand the moment she heard my voice. Stopping halfway, it was mere seconds before Amaterasu could completely lower her hand. Confused beyond words, Amaterasu turned her head and looked at me like she was trying to get an answer. Including Chihiri, who looked absolutely dumbfounded by my last second stunt.

"Is there... any reason for stopping me, master?... If you do, please tell me?"

"I'm really sorry for this. I know that this makes no sense, but I have to ask that 'thing' something."

"N, Now is not a good time!..."

"Yeah! Ditto what she said! The hell do you have to ask to that piece of shit?! D, Don't tell me that you're trying to show sympathy?! That thing is obviously a threat, and god knows how many innocent people that bug alone harmed!"

Chihiri frowned her face as she walked towards me, and grabbed me by the collar. Her face, her eyes were filled with rage. She was ready to knock me down with her fist if I say yes.

"You think I'm trying to save that thing? That shit bug dies right here, no questions asked."

"Huh?... Then why..."

"Like I said. I'm just going to ask something."

I nudged Chihiri away from me and got her hand off of my collar. Whatever Chihiri might have thought, I had no ounce of mercy to offer to that fucking bug. I haven't forgot how Master beetle treated humans as simple batteries. Chihiri didn't say another word when she saw me gritting my teeth.

"...I understand, master. But please make it quick."

"Got it. Thanks."

Amaterasu still had doubts on what I was thinking. But she knew that I wasn't going to back down. Instead she focused her eyes on Master beetle and strengthened the pressing gravity. Making sure that it doesn't even look at me the wrong way.

 **"Ask me? Didn't you hear me, dipshit? I'm basically a cow marching to a slaughter house. There's no god damn reason for me to do anything! If you really want to do a right bargain why don't you try to persuade me, huh? If not, you can just fuck off..."**

Even being crushed by gravity, didn't stop Master beetle from talking whatever the hell it wanted to do. Even when it was utterly pointless, Master beetle kept struggling and squirming it's body constantly to try to be free. It was downright obvious that Master beetle would try to stab us in the back in a heartbeat if it got the chance.

Master beetle's face was planted to the ground and yet I could see it's shit eating smirk, like it wanted for us to see.

"Amaterasu."

 **DUUUUUU!-**

 **"Argh! Uff!...Uff!... Agk!"**

Master beetle's calm voice soon turned into a blood gurgling scream. The gravity pressing Master beetle's body got even stronger than before. The huge gravity completely devastated the ground around it, so much so that it changed the place into a giant crater.

Master beetle's thick armor crumbled in seconds. And at the same time, we could hear the sharp sound of bones breaking inside Master beetle's body. Master beetle had no time to talk out of it's ass, while it was too busy coughing out huge amounts of black blood.

When it looked like Master beetle was going to die, Amaterasu weakened the right amount of gravity before that could happen.

 **"Haa!...Haa!...Ahh..."**

With the crushing pain gone, Master beetle spat out the remaining blood from it's mouth and started to gulp in air as much as possible. It seemed that Master beetle was about to die from suffocation first rather than it's body getting crushed.

"Thanks for stopping at the right time, Amaterasu."

"No need to thank me, master. Punishment is only natural for whoever insults my master."

I looked at Amaterasu and she looked back at me nodding with a warm smile. After that, Amaterasu turned her head to Master beetle and her kind face turned ice cold in a second. Meanwhile, Master beetle's loud breathing turned normal again. It didn't speak a word, fully knowing that Amaterasu will do it again if it did. With nothing to interrupt me, I started talking.

"If you want to bargain, fine. You have two options. A, you're going to answer me and die a quick death, or B, you're going to die SLOWLY and PAINFULLY to the limit, that you'll feel like a live frog being dissected. Do you GET what I'm saying? Or do you want another demonstration?"

Master beetle, who would've flat out ignored or made fun of what I would say, didn't joke and stayed dead quiet until I finished talking. Master beetle glared at me with full intention of wanting to horribly murder all of us, but at least it meant it was paying attention.

 **"...Well then... you drive a hard bargain there... Fine, ask away..."**

It didn't take long for Master beetle's answer.

"...Why."

 **"Huh?"**

"Why did you have to do those horrible things to innocent people? They didn't even have Psyqualia... You could've found a Psyqualia user like Amaterasu without doing any of it! If you looked hard enough, nobody had to die by your fucking hands! But why did you have to!..."

I yelled out every single word as loud as I can in front of Master beetle's face. I had to stop when my throat was to sore to talk. I could feel the bitter taste of blood while catching my breath.

I just couldn't believe that there was no other way.

And I also didn't want to even think for even a second, that 'what if' Amaterasu had to do the same thing that Master beetle have done before she met me. That I SHOULD feel afraid of her.

Amaterasu and Chihiri seemed like they had something to say, but didn't and stood quietly as if they couldn't. Master beetle didn't move an inch or even say a single word. It looked like it was thinking about something, or had nothing to say about it's own actions.

That's what I thought, until...

 **"PUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

The silent air around us was broken apart by Master beetle's loud laughter. Master beetle twitched and twisted it's body like it went crazy all of a sudden. Even while being crushed, Master beetle kept on laughing maniacally. The sudden change of attitude just came out of nowhere, that at first I didn't know how to react. But my reason came back quick, as my body trembled in anger every time I had to hear Master beetle laugh.

"What's so funny?!"

After gritting my teeth I screamed out to Master beetle. Master beetle soon stopped laughing, but Master beetle kept snickering between words as if it couldn't help itself.

"How can I NOT laugh, when this is the easiest deal I ever had to do! Seriously? 'WHY' I did it? That's all you want to ask? Hahahaha! What a joke! I don't know if you're retarded, or REALLY retarded!"

"You... You dare..."

I felt Amaterasu's spiritual energy quickly rising next to me. I looked at her and Amaterasu's eyes turned violent. With her hand shaking as if she was going to kill Master beetle this instant.

I quickly grabbed Amaterasu's hand and spoke to her by telepathy, before she had the chance to actually do it.

'Calm down, Amaterasu! That bug's no good to us dead!'

'There is no reason to calm down! Don't you see, master? Master beetle is just playing you! Every second it's alive is a threat to master and Chihiri sama's safety! It must die!'

'I know, but... Look, just let it talk and then you can do whatever you want to it. Ok?'

I couldn't tell her the real reason why I needed to hear it from Master beetle.

'Haaa... If you say so...'

She didn't like it, but Amaterasu decided to go along with my...

"Well, I'll tell you what you want, since it's ridiculously easy. Also since I have nothing better to do."

"Uh, what were you two talking to each other?"

"It's nothing."

Chihiri looked at me with confused looks. She knew that me and Amaterasu were able to talk telepathically, but through her eyes we were just staring each other.

"Because it's natural."

Master beetle tossed out the words from it's mouth like it was nothing. No stuttering, no pause, or a single hint of thought behind it.

"What... do you mean 'natural'?"

"You heard me, natural. You thought that I had some big reason, or was forced to do all those things? I don't know what's going on inside that peanut of a brain you have, but we Megacolony have our rules. In fact, we have only one rule."

 **THUM!**

That moment, Master beetle pressed the ground with it's two hands and jolted it's head up like it was about to stand.

The front side of Master beetle's face was badly smashed by the continuous gravity press. The black blood from the puncture wound covered Master beetle's entire face. We barely saw Master beetle's eyes and mouth moving, while the sludge like blood kept dripping from it's face.

 **"'The strong devours the weak!' That's what we know, and do best than any other pathetic nation in Cray! Yes, we 'could've' found a Psyquaila user without killing. We 'could've' acted what you call 'civilized'. But why should we care the well beings far inferior? It's like taking care of a pile of dirt. There is just no reason for it. And that would mean neglecting weaklings their rightful use. To become our food, and the honor of being fuel to power superior beings such as us! There's no personal reason for killing humans on this planet. Their lives mean so little for that to happen. Although, there was some form of joy when killing your kind. The screams they sent before they died... Ooh... Truly enjoyable..."**

Master beetle's nightmarish face was nothing compared to what it said. Master beetle wasn't a murderer, or even a psychopath. It was a monster. Who doesn't know, see, feel, or even care about anything that we hold dear. The world that it knows were so different that it was almost pointless to expect anything beside the word 'alien'.

"..."

"Y, You fucking piece of shit! You think because you have a mouth, you can say that kind of shit like that?! Amaterasu! If you're not going to kill that piece of shit, let me have a go! Let's see if you can still talk with your mouth ripped off!"

Amaterasu stayed silent, but her gaze towards Master beetle were filled with absolute disgust. Chihiri was pissed off beyond reasoning. While cursing and yelling on top of her lungs, it looked like she was about to run out and kill Master beetle by herself.

I don't know what I was hoping from this. Maybe a small part of me was hoping that, a fucked up being like Master beetle would at least feel something at it's final moments. And it did. In the most god forsaken way, that it was almost chilling. But thanks to Master beetle's straight answer, there was one thing made very clear.

That there was no reason for any hesitation.

 **"Now, don't forget our agreement. A quick death for my magnificent speech, remember?"**

"...Yeah. Can't forget that."

As much as I wanted to watch Master beetle suffer, I wasn't going to go back on my word. And to be frank, I don't even want to see that son of a bitch's face for even a second.

"It's all yours, Amaterasu. Make it quick."

"With pleasure, master."

I never thought that asking someone to kill will be this easy. It was almost worrying on how I felt nothing when saying it. Luckily, Amaterasu didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, she looked rather relieved to finally take out Master beetle.

Amaterasu stepped forward as if she was preparing to do something. It also meant for us to stay absolutely behind her. Whatever she had in store for Master beetle, it was going to be big.

Looking at her, I couldn't help but imagine the amount of anxiety she must have gone through, while I was wasting time to a monster who would kill us with a smile on it's face.

'Amaterasu was right about Master beetle all along... I guess I owe her an apology after this.'

 **FUUUOOOOO-**

As I was thinking of an apology, the spirit energy inside Amaterasu suddenly skyrocketed. Massive amounts of red aura surrounded her head to toe. Feeling her spiritual energy this close made my whole body shudder, even more than when I was paralyzed by Master beetle's pressure. The second she radiated her energy, I knew that it was nothing like mine.

Not just the color. Power, amount. density, there was no better word to explain other than 'overflowing'. And something that I didn't expect, a will. I could feel Amaterasu's own will inside the flowing energy. It almost felt like her energy was alive.

And the thing that I felt, and was making Amaterasu's energy so powerful, was her will to kill.

"Master beetle, you have committed so many violent crimes and harmed countless innocent lives. And even when my master gave you a chance of redemption, you refused and insulted his kindness. As one of the clans who swore to protect this planet, and my master, I, Amaterasu will consider you as a dangerous threat to this world, and hereby execute you."

 **KUGUGUGUGU**

The entire sky above us began to turn dark. The weather itself suddenly changed as Amaterasu's energy grew stronger and stronger. We could hear loud sounds roaring inside the blackened sky, like thunderclaps in a lightning storm. However, unlike a normal lightning storm, the sound was louder than any thunderclap I've ever heard, and yet there was no drop of rain or even a change of wind.

Me and Chihiri's eyes were glued to the sky. Looking at the abnormal weather made both our arms full of goosebumps. If this was the calm before the storm, we were afraid of what comes after.

"Be grateful that my master chose your death to be quick, Master beetle."

 **"Heh, duly noted."**

Right after Master beetle finished it's words sarcastically, Amaterasu lifted her hand high up towards the sky without any hesitation.

That's when hundreds of red rays came pouring out from the black sky. The ray's light was quite faint. Nothing like the deep color of Amaterasu's energy. Rather than scattering everywhere like it's supposed to, every single ray moved and headed towards one place.

Which was Master beetle, who's body was glowing red by the falling rays.

'The rays... aren't doing anything?!'

The faint light of the rays instantly grew stronger, covering Master beetle's body in thick red light. However, the rays didn't seem to do anything besides make Master beetle more harder for us to see. Despite that, the ray's lights kept getting stronger and felt like I was going to go blind if I keep seeing it.

I was about to ask Amaterasu on what she was doing right now, until Chihiri grabbed me by the shoulder. When I looked at her, she said nothing and just pointed at the sky. I looked at the sky again, expecting the same black sky.

It wasn't. The black sky turned crimson, glowing in pure red. It was like seeing the end of the world come true. And the sky above Master beetle glowed the brightest. Not just the light, when I felt the weight of the enormous amount of spiritual energy, it was like the sky was going to fall down.

And then I knew. The rays weren't the attack. It was merely the pointer for the 'real attack'.

 **"Ten- Kou- Batsu(Wrath of the sun)."**

* * *

 **Welp, that bug is dead. RIP Master beetle!**

 **P.S: I'm really sorry for being late...**


	11. Chapter 11- Override

**Hope you enjoy reading this. Oh, I really hope...**

* * *

As Amaterasu finished her words, the black sky above Master beetle quickly vanished. And at that moment, me and Chihiri saw what was making the light behind the skies. A gigantic vortex several times bigger than Master beetle, swirling huge amounts of red spiritual energy. The same energy that Amaterasu was discharging from her body. And with a flash of bright red light,

 **BLLZZZRRRRRTTTTTTT!**

Followed by a deafening sound, an enormous pillar of a beam, fired down from the vortex and struck the very earth. The whole ground beneath us shook. Massive gusts of wind blew heavily. Sending thick dust clouds everywhere, and almost felt like me and Chihiri were going to fly away by the strong wind. Everything was hard to see by the dust cloud, except for one thing.

While covering my eyes from the dust cloud, the red light of the beam didn't die out one bit and kept glowing bright. I couldn't even see Master beetle's body by the strong light. The beam was still firing down from the sky until there was nothing left of Master beetle.

 **ZZZZRRRTT-**

When it felt like the attack was never going to end, the beam's light started to dim out until it finally stopped. The sky was no longer black, and soon returned to normal as if nothing has happened.

"Fuu..."

As the dust cloud began to clear, I saw Amaterasu standing in front of me. She lowered her hand from the sky and let a quiet sigh. My head was spinning from what I just witnessed. The laser's loud sound was still ringing inside my head, like there was a bell ringing in my brain. I tried to ignore my legs shaking and took each step carefully while walking towards her.

"Are you okay, Amaterasu?"

"Ah, master. Yes I'm fine. What about you? D, Did you get hurt by any chance?"

"Don't worry. Got no scratch whatsoever."

Amaterasu's body jumped a little when I called out to her. It looked like she had to put all of her concentration to do whatever she did. However, Amaterasu didn't seem to be tired even after using that huge attack, not even breaking a sweat. I guess her title of 'goddess' isn't just for show.

"Thank the gods you're not hurt..."

"Well, we did stay behind you so there's no way... Wait, where's Chihiri?"

"N, Now that you mention it. You don't think..."

"*Cough* H, Here!... Damn dust got in my eyes..."

Me and Amaterasu turned around to the direction where Chihiri's voice came. She was just getting off the ground with thick dust covering her body from head to toe. It was likely that she lied flat on the ground to avoid the wind(or could've actually been flown away?). I'd be laughing at how messed up she was, if I hadn't realize that I wasn't the cleanest person myself.

"Oh, damn it. And I just got my uniform dry cleaned two days ago!"

"Well, tell your parents that you ' got lucky at gym class'. If you know what I mean. Ay? Ayyy?~"

Chihiri moved her eyebrows up and down while giving me two thumbs up, like I was thinking the same thing as her. While there is no way in hell that I'd be thinking the same 'things' that Chihiri does, I was wondering how on earth could someone see dust covered clothes and think of, oh right, I just forgot who I was talking to.

"First off, shut up, and second, how about I just tell them that I wore this while playing soccer?"

"Nah, my story sound way better. If you don't like it, there's always the 'trapped in the gym closet' setting?"

"Do you always have to make things sound perverted?"

"Uh, is there any reason NOT to?"

Chihiri said in a nonchalant tone like there was nothing wrong about it. It's almost scary that she doesn't even hesitate when saying those things.

"What are you two talking about, master?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

I moved along before Amaterasu could hear things that would make her lose hope for humanity. Unlike me and Chihiri who looked like beggars in our dirty uniform, Amaterasu's clothes were unharmed and pitch perfect. Not a bit of dust on her whatsoever, even though she was right in front of the attack.

I guess when you're a god, you're able to stop dust from getting on your body. And judging by what Amaterasu was capable of, I half expect that to be the case.

"So uh, is the bug dead?"

"Yes. You don't have to worry, Chihiri sama."

"Really? I mean, I'm not trying to bad mouth you or anything Amaterasu, but that thing just looked like it'll never die."

Even when seeing me and Amaterasu standing in front of the pit, Chihiri still didn't believe that Master beetle was dead. Her face had turned blue in fear and was hesitant to walk towards us. If Chihiri took every step slow and careful as she's doing now, it'll be night time before we know it. Which is sooner than I would've thought, since the sun was going down, and the sky turning dark(this time the natural way).

I mean, I don't blame her considering the things that we just saw. I'd be acting the same way if I was there and not here.

"Itou, tell me the truth! Is it safe?!"

"Yeah it's fine, so come on already! It's safer to stay close to Amaterasu than just standing there alone, you know."

"I know, man. Look, just tell me if that bug looks dead for sure. I don't want to see that thing squirming or burst out in front of my eyes or anything..."

"Well, I don't know because there's nothing left TO see."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Looking confused and somewhat curious, Chihiri finally picked up her pace and ran towards us. After stopping right next to me, Chihiri looked at my face like she demanded answers to what I said. Thinking it's best to show than tell, I slightly tilted my head to let her see for herself.

Chihiri turned her head to see what's in front of her. Only to scream out of shock of what she saw.

"Holy shit?! Wha, Wha, What in the?!"

What I meant about 'nothing to see' was that there was 'nothing left' other than a huge hole that was once where Master beetle was. On second thought, it wasn't even a hole. The whole intersection, including a half a block worth of buildings were obliterated along with Master beetle, so it was more of a crater than a hole.

The gigantic hole that the beam left was not just wide, but extremely deep as well. I couldn't say for sure, but it looked deep enough to fit a six story apartment.

 **Thud**

Overwhelmed by the massive hole, Chihiri fell on her behind as if her legs gave up. Chihiri wasn't close to the edge of the hole, and yet she looked quite shaken up. Although looking at the size of the hole, I think it's safe to say it'll make anyone's head spin.

"Wait, were you afraid of heights?"

"No, I don't! But did you see how deep that is?! That's enough to make anyone seeing that piss themselves!"

"Wow, then I guess I shouldn't have called you to see this."

"You think?! And how comes you're not scared out of your ass right now?!"

"Oh, I am. You think I'm standing here for the sights? I'm standing here because I can't move. My legs aren't moving, because I'm TOO scared!"

My legs weren't even shaking and was frozen solid by the total fear of falling.

"Huh?! Y, You should've told me that sooner, master! I'll move you right this second!"

Amaterasu was almost in a state of panic, as she basically bear hugged me in the back and lifted me up. Unlike her lady like figure, Amaterasu lifted my body with ease and placed me behind her like I was a light pillow.

"Oof!"

If I wasn't already embarrassed of getting handled like a baby, I wanted to run and dive in the hole myself, when I dropped down like a tower of cards the moment I touched the ground.

"Pff..."

"Shut it, Chihiri."

Chihiri scoffed at me, even though she had her butt on the ground like I was. Thankfully, Amaterasu didn't laugh. She immediately held out both of her hand, and pulled me and Chihiri off the ground. Just by being away from the hole made me feel a lot better, and for my legs too.

"I gotta say, good job on taking out Master beetle, Amaterasu. Although next time, could you be a less... overkill?..."

"The hell are you talking about, Itou! There's no better way to handle a problem, than good old overkill! Amaterasu, don't listen to him! You did a damn good job!"

"No, it's okay, Chihiri sama. Master is right. Next time, I'll be sure to 'properly' weaken my attack."

Me and Chihiri were listening to Amaterasu's humble words, until we heard something weird, and we both stared at her at the same time. Amaterasu noticed our gazes and looked at us with worrying eyes, as if she was wondering if she did something wrong.

"I, Is there a problem, master? And Chihiri sama, too..."

"No, no, it's umm... What do you mean by 'properly'?"

"Oh, there was a slight miscalculation on my previous attack. I thought simply weakening my energy output would be enough, but it seems I was wrong."

"So... 'that' was you pulling back?"

Amaterasu nodded, while looking at us innocently as if this was all normal. Judging by her natural reaction, I guess this is a matter of thought difference. But to me and Chihiri it was hard to wrap up, that an attack strong enough to wipe out an entire block, was just the weaker version.

"When you mean by 'weaken', how much are we talking about?"

"About fifty percent from the normal output, Chihiri sama. Less than that, the attack would've penetrated the earth's mantle, and I couldn't risk that from happening. But seeing how things turned out, I suppose sixty percent would've been fine too."

"O...k... Thanks for... doing that?..."

I kept on nodding, not knowing what to say. I honestly didn't know how to react on that. Mostly grateful that she didn't go all out, AND kind of scared of the same reason.

'Fifty times, huh... Don't want to imagine what this place would look like if she just fired...'

"You weakened it that much, and the beam was STILL that strong?! Now that is hardcore!"

Chihiri's eyes were glowing with excitement. It looks like someones having a good time, even though that someone almost died.

"Amaterasu?"

"Yes, master?"

"How long do you think we have left before the barrier in this area is gone?"

"Let's see... At least two hours left, master. Why do you ask... Oh."

Amaterasu noticed exactly what I was talking about. I just hope that she isn't too shocked.

"Why, what's the matter? Is there something happening after two hours?"

"Uh, Chihiri? Look around you!"

"Around me? What's there to... OH."

I was baffled if Chihiri was being serious or not. I don't know how Chihiri could miss several destroyed buildings, and a huge ass crater right in front of us. We were basically in the middle of a war zone, which is really hard to miss.

"Holy crap, I didn't think it would be THIS bad..."

"Haa... I know, right?"

Chihiri's face grew darker and darker when she turned around to see the destruction. Cleaning all this up was way beyond our reach. And we couldn't just leave it like this, either. My stomach was growling like crazy, just by the thoughts on what to do with this mess.

"So... where should we start? If we act fast, we could at least fill the hole with debris?"

"Honestly, I don't know. I mean, even though there's no casualties, is it even possible to fix this? And in less than two hours, even!"

"Yes, it's possible."

""Huh?!""

Me and Chihiri looked at Amatetasu with shock. The two of us were wrapping our heads what to do, and Amaterasu just came in and casually proposed something impossible. It was good of Amaterasu to try to fix what she did. Amaterasu was definitely powerful, but it was hard to believe she also had the power to fix this, when she was the same one who caused it.

"Y, You could?"

"Yes. It's actually quite easier than you think, master. With the power of my Yata no kagami, I could restore everything just the way it was. Although it would take a few minutes for complete restoration, but it'll be over before we know it."

Amaterasu said it with confidence, while showing us a jade colored mirror that she was holding on her chest. It's size was big as a small tray. The mirror looked ancient, with beautiful patterns drawn on the surface, like the ones made from copper that I've seen at a museum once. However, unlike those ones, Amaterasu's mirror was dentless and the surface was smooth and clean like it was brand new.

"Wait, 'Yata no kagami'? Isn't that one of the three treasures from ancient myth?"

"Earth to Itou? She IS Amaterasu. Goddess of the sun, remember? Of course she's going to have the sacred treasure."

"Yeah, I suppose that makes sense..."

The Yata no kagami was shining brightly like a gem, and was emitting a sort of divine aura that genuinely felt like it belonged to a god. When Amaterasu flicked her finger and the mirror floated in the air and span in circles like itself was alive.

"Whoa! That is so cool!"

"Hey Amaterasu, do that again!"

"H, Huh? Is this so fascinated to you two? I mean, I did do it to make master and Chihiri sama to appreciate this magnificent artifact..."

"A floating mirror! That spins, too!"

"I know!"

"...You two aren't focusing on the mirror, are you..."

It may be a simple trick for Amaterasu, but me and Chihiri were certainly wowed by it.

'I guess Amaterasu is Amaterasu, even if you're from an alien world or not...'

"Umm... Would you like me to start?"

"Yes, please!"

"Holy shit, yes please!"

We answered immediately. Amaterasu smiled gently and nodded her head with confidence.

I was almost jumping with glee. If Amaterasu is able to actually fix this, I'm going to start worshiping her as my god...

W, Why is my head spinning?...

"Step aside, master. This could get mess"

"Argh!"

Suddenly, I felt an intense pain in my head like it was about to crack open. Everything around me felt like it was spinning in circles. The pain and the nausea was enough to make me collapse on the ground. Unable to even stand, all I could do was squirm on the ground like a worm, begging for the pain that I don't even know to stop.

"I, Itou!"

"Master!"

Screaming my name with shock, Chihiri immediately kneeled down and pressed my chest with both hands, trying to hold my body still. I wanted to stop, but the pain made my body move on it's own.

"ARGH!...AAAHHH!"

"Ow!"

My body kept jumping violently, like a fish out of water. And despite her efforts, Chihiri lost her grip, and I pushed her away from me. Chihiri tried to give it a second chance, but I was moving to ferociously, that she wasn't able to come near me.

"S, Stay urgh, still, man! Amaterasu, give me a hand here!"

"H, How could it... Master beetle has already fallen..."

"Damn it, come on! I need you here!"

"R, Right! Just stay calm, master! Everything's going to be alright!"

"A..Ama..."

It took all my might to say anything, and yet all I could get out were barely parts of a word. My mouth felt like it was covered by thousands of bugs, crawling around and trying to stick my lips from opening. I tried to lift my arm, but it was heavy to even lift a single finger, like my entire arm was made of metal. I put in all my strength, but it was meaningless other than making my arm shudder.

"T, This is impossible..."

"What is?!"

"Master's spiritual energy is rapidly decreasing. At this rate, almost half of his energy is going to be gone!"

"W, What do you mean? Does that mean Itou's going to die?!"

"No. However, it's going to bring an ungodly pain, that's awfully close to it. I, I still can't understand how this is happening... Hang in there, master! If I transfer my energy, some of the pain will settle down!"

"You heard Amaterasu! You're going to be alright, so don't go walking into some light, ok?!"

Amaterasu and Chihiri were no longer panicking. Working together, they were focusing everything on fixing me. Hearing and seeing the two of them trying, it was rather touching that they cared about me. But right now, I wasn't the thing that they should be focusing about.

My body was breaking apart, and yet my visions worked with no problem. It was urgent to tell Amaterasu about what I knew. But I couldn't talk, I couldn't make any gestures, basically I had no way to tell her.

The only part of the body I could move freely, were my two eyes. I opened them as much as possible. Shaking, begging for Amaterasu to understand what I'm trying to say.

"I promise you'll be fine, master."

Amaterasu was so fixed on curing me, she mistook my signs as just mere reflexes from the pain. After breathing in deeply, Amaterasu carefully put both of her hands on my chest. When Amaterasu's hand touched my chest, a warm, cozy feeling came from my chest. I could feel Amaterasu's energy flowing on to me. The pain slowly started to calm down, as well as my body.

'Come on, come on!'

My mouth no longer felt like it was stuck together, but I was still unable to talk. It was going to take only a few seconds before I could talk, but even that was taking too much time. I had to tell her. Tell Amaterasu the 'image' I'm seeing, before it's too late. Tell her to...

 **"WATCH OUT!"**

"What?..."

 **THOK!**

 **"Urgh?!"**

As soon as I could speak, I screamed out as loud as possible, only to be too late.

Amaterasu froze in place, flinching as her face was in pure shock. All the sounds around us went silent, except a single bloody sound that kept ringing through our ears, like the sound of bells. Me and Chihiri wanted to scream. Our mouths were wide open, as well as our eyes, and yet we couldn't say one word, like someone ripped out our tongues.

Her eyes filled with confusion, Amaterasu seemed to be unable to comprehend on what just happened to her. She lowered her shaking eyes to look down, to see the truth for herself. But when she did, the slight hope in Amaterasu's eyes vanished without a trace. It hit Amaterasu, harder than any weapon imaginable.

All sorts of emotions ran through Amaterasu's eyes. Seeing the truth with her own eyes, made it harder for her to turn away from it.

 **A jagged tip of a blade, that rose from the ground. The sharp metal, piercing straight through the goddess's chest.**

 **KUGUGUGUGUGU-**

The ground began to shake wildly. An earthquake, but without no warning of it happening. Giant cracks quickly spread around the pit, as if the whole area was about to sink down into the ground. As the ground kept shaking, huge amounts of dust and debris rained down the area around us. Covering our mouth and nose from the thick dust, me and Chihiri saw 'it'.

A gigantic figure covered in dust and debris, rising from the ground. It's building sized body blocked the sunlight, and painted the area that we were on in black shadows. Overwhelmed by size, me and Chihiri who were ants compared to the figure, lifted our heads to see the figure's identity. Only to see a face that we never, ever wanted to see again.

 **"Ahahahaha! What's the matter? It looks like you bugs just seen a ghost!"**

It's body erecting from the pit, the once thought dead Master beetle screamed out a sinister laughter, and shook the ground with only it's roaring voice.

The pit where Master beetle stood was very, VERY deep. It looked like the gigantic meteorite crater I've only seen in books, and yet the pit only came up to Master beetle's chest, even though it wasn't fully standing. To Master beetle's gigantic body, the huge pit was just a mere pool to it.

"Master... beetle!"

"T, That bug!..."

"How is that thing still alive?!"

The three of us looked in shock at Master beetle's still standing body. I just couldn't believe the nightmare that I was seeing. Amaterasu's attack was more than enough to wipe out Master beetle from the face of the earth. There was no way that Master beetle would've survived, and yet it was standing here, very much alive in front of our eyes.

"You... should be dead! There's no way you could've survived from a direct attack!"

 **"Haha! Well that's where you're wrong, you goddess bitch! Sure, I would've been dead if I've done nothing. But dig deep enough, the very earth becomes your armor!"**

"That's impossible! You couldn't even move from the gravity press!"

 **"Please, my specialty IS gravity! I could've escaped from your gravity press anytime I wanted! Hell, that's the whole reason my pressure works so well than the other Megacolony freaks!"**

I didn't know if Master beetle was telling the truth, or if it was spewing a bunch of lies just to mess with us. Master beetle already seemed to enjoy toying us, like it was feeling superior from everything else. However, seeing Master beetle alive was pretty sure that it wasn't lying. Sure, Master beetle was more than capable of doing so, but it didn't seem the type that would lie when it came to it's precious life.

"Then... Why pretend that you couldn't move?! You just played dead for no reason?!"

 **"Oh, but there WAS a reason. As much as I hate to admit it, I know when I'm over matched. If I'd moved or try to attack by surprise, you would've stopped it either way and finished me off right then and there. With my body being damaged thanks to you, the only chance that I had for a payback was to make an opening. And as history has shown, there's no better way for an opening to fools like you, than a good old fashioned fake death!"**

"D, Damn you..."

 **"Sure there was a 'price', but what isn't in life, am I right?"**

"Price? What is that thing talking abou..."

 **Dun! Dun!**

"Huh?"

Suddenly, from inside the pit where master beetle was standing, I heard loud sounds of water echoing through the steep hills, like the same way as a dam. I thought Master beetle was scheming something, until I saw closely and found something off about it's silhouette.

Except for the arm that was used to attack Amaterasu, Master beetle's left arm was gone entirely. Little parts of the elbow was the only thing left of it's arm. The cut was so clean, it almost looked like the arm was naturally detached, rather than being cut off.

 **Dun!**

One by one, huge drops of blood that was almost the size of a water tower, fell from Master beetle's elbow and crashed with a bang when it touched the bottom of the pit. The sounds of the blood drops kept deflecting around the pit's walls, that almost sounded like an constant echo.

"So that's what it was making these noises..."

Now that I had a closer look at Master beetle, it's state was looking FAR from 'well'. Unlike it's care free tone, Master beetle's body was covered with wounds. The hole on the stomach where Master beetle's own ribs punched out, got wider than the first time I saw it. Not to mention looking way worse and painful, with trails of half hardened blood covering up Master beetle's entire stomach and lower body.

Not only that, there were also new wounds that I haven't seen before. Large holes and cuts, looking no better than the old wounds, with details of Master beetle's insides that we didn't even hope to watch, oozing out of the open gaps.

It's arm blade was also damaged. The enormous chunk of metal that divided the whole street in two was no more. Most of the thick metal was gone, probably melted away by the laser. The size of the blade that impaled Amaterasu was no bigger than a small pole, and the shape wasn't straight but was crooked like a sculpture of a lightning bolt.

Master beetle wasn't just an arrogant bastard. It was far more cunning than we've thought. It was smart, calculative enough to fool us and even Amaterasu. Even determined to sacrifice it's own body, just for a chance to attack. There was no enemy more scarier than one who had the brawn and the brain.

The only good thing(if I could even call it that) to come up from this, was that the blade was way smaller than I dreaded. If the blade's size had been a little bigger, Amaterasu's body would've been cut in two, right then and there.

'W, What am I thinking?! There's NOTHING good about this situation, at all!'

I must be out of mind, thinking that there was a silver lining about Amaterasu getting impaled. I felt disgusted by myself, but that quickly changed. Or rather, was unable to think about it, when there were hundreds of other things that I had to worry about.

"Itou, what're we going to do? Without Amaterasu, we have no chance of fighting that thing!"

"I know! J, Just let me think!"

Chihiri's face grew dark. Her body was trembling, not knowing what she should do right know. To run away from Master beetle? Or to do something to save Amaterasu?

I could see in Chihiri's eyes, that she wanted to save Amaterasu. I also wanted the same thing, but how? Amaterasu was the only one able to fight, and she was the one who got attacked. We couldn't even give a dent to Master beetle's body, much so save Amaterasu from it. The other option was to run away, but no matter how far we try to run, one step from Master beetle was all it took to catch up with us. I wasn't even sure if we HAD options to begin with. I wanted to say something hopeful, or hell anything to Chihiri. But I couldn't say anything to her, when I didn't have the answers to tell myself.

I couldn't imagine the pain what Amaterasu must be feeling. I knew that she was different from us, but getting impaled by a jagged steel like that deep through the chest, was a death sentence no matter who they were.

'Need to think something... Just, anything! Come on!'

 **"I don't know about you, but I'm going to have a hell of a time ripping your so called 'master'!"**

"...Not... on my... watch!"

 **Zlrt!**

With the sound of blood splattering, Amaterasu thrust herself forward and pulled Master beetle's blade out of her chest. The blade was completely out of Amaterasu, leaving a huge gaping wound right in the middle of her chest.

"S, She's fine?!"

"But the blade's!..."

The tip of Master beetle's jagged blade was covered in Amaterasu's blood. Seeing the blade soaked in fresh red blood, sent shivers down my spine. The pain that Amaterasu had to go through to get the blade out, was too much for me to even imagine.

And even if Amaterasu survived the pain, she wasn't going to last long before the shock or the blood loss takes her toll. Unless some kind of miracle happens, we had to see the end of Amaterasu.

However...

"Amaterasu! Behind you!"

Master beetle tried to catch Amaterasu with it's giant hand while she had her back against it. She didn't even turned back, and yet Amaterasu easily dodged by swiftly moving to the side as if the attack was obvious. And without a second to even breathe, she quickly turned around and extended her hand towards Master beetle, while holding the Yata's mirror in the same hand.

Fwoosh-

Amaterasu flicked one of her finger, and suddenly Master beetle's gigantic body went flying to the side, as if it was moved by an invisible force.

 **BAMM!**

"Argk!"

Shaking the ground with a loud thump, Master beetle crashed it's head first onto the pit's wall. Crashing hard enough to shake the ground was one thing, Master beetle crashed to the wall SO hard, that it's head was split open. The huge horn on Master beetle's head smashed to pieces as it crashed to the wall. Then large chunks of the horn's shards got lodged into it's head, as rivers of blood came pouring down and covered Master beetle's face.

 **DUUUUU-**

Right after Master beetle got smashed into the wall, an immense force pressed the entire side of the pit, along with the giant bug. The power that flung Master beetle seemed to be a variation of Amaterasu's gravity manipulation. The walls began to crack and crumble like weak glass by the sheer force. However, unlike before, Master beetle's body wasn't crushed by the gravity and was able to move perfectly fine, supposedly it also being able to control gravity.

It was also possible for Master beetle to escape. But soon, Master beetle's 'movement' quickly turned into meaningless struggle.

 **"Heh, like this sort of thing can damage, Oof!"**

 **DUM!**

With a sudden spike of energy, the gravity pushed the wall with immense force, the wall's shape bent and turned into a deep crater. Master beetle's movement halted as it was stuck firmly against the wall, with the gravity pressing it's body like an invisible hand Unable to handle the pressure, Master beetle coughed out buckets of blood while broken pieces of the wall came falling down on it's head.

 **"Ugaaaah!"**

The force of the gravity would've been massive, probably even stronger than before. If it was able to change the shape of a wide area like that in an instant, the gravity's strength was now at least ten times more powerful than last time.

With her hand still aiming at Master beetle, Amaterasu lifted her index finger. And at the same time, the wall where Master beetle was began to shake.

 **KUGUGUGUGU**

Huge parts of the wall's debris came falling down with a thud. With it, the giant bug's body was easily lifted up in the air like it was a small doll, until it stopped in place right in front of Amaterasu's face. She knew for a fact that it was impossible for Master beetle to move, and confronted it face to face with only a few centimeters off of the bug's face.

"Did you honestly think that was the extent of my power? I may have underestimated you, but the consequences of underestimating me will mark the end of your life. And I'm afraid you just did."

 **"Kuu..."**

Amaterasu moved her hand which held the mirror to the side. Seeing that, I was worried Master beetle's restraint was going to be gone if she stopped pointing at it. Luckily that didn't seem to be the case, as Master beetle kept floating in place even when Amaterasu moved her hand away.

Following Amaterasu's movement, the mirror in her grasp moved on it's own and floated still above her hand. Right after leaving Amaterasu's hand, the jade colored mirror began to glow red, like metal being heated up by fire. Ringing loudly, I saw red sparks flashing around the mirror. While also feeling a huge amount of spiritual energy gathering to the now turned red mirror.

"Yeah! Way to go, Amaterasu! Show that son of a bitch what you're made of!"

Jumping with glee, Chihiri cheered loudly as she was more than happy to see Amaterasu finishing off Master beetle. I mean, who wouldn't want to see the bastard who tried to kill you, finally kick the bucket? I should be cheering with Chihiri right now, but...

I couldn't shake the uneasy feeling on my chest.

"Is... she going to be ok?"

"Huh? What do you mean, Itou?"

"Amaterasu was just impaled but she's acting far too well, like that never happened. Doesn't it seem kinda weird to you? There's no way that kind of damage can be taken lightly!"

"W, Whoa, take it easy, man! I mean, are you sure? Amaterasu is a being literally out of this world. Who knows what she's capable of? No matter how you look at it she's fine, all right? We should be grateful for that rather than worry."

"Y, Yeah... Yeah you're right."

I understood where Chihiri was coming from. Amaterasu didn't show any signs that she was in pain. Even her movements haven't changed or has slowed down from Master beetle's attack. It was like Master beetle's surprise attack didn't happen in the first place. A bad dream of some sort. Just like Chihiri said, Amaterasu looked perfectly fine.

But the thing was, it was TOO fine.

The wound on Amaterasu's chest was still there, like a sign telling us that Master beetle's attack did happen. I thought Amaterasu's absent for pain was weird enough. But now I realized her Kimono was supposed to soaked in red, due to her blood loss. And yet the only red part was the chest part of the Kimono, and the rest was for the most part fine. Even the bleeding has stopped.

But the one thing that made me question all of this, was Amaterasu's face when she was being impaled. She didn't scream in agony, her face wasn't filled with pain, she was all right.

 **Which shouldn't make any sense, for her to look confused about it.**

'If she isn't the one, what's doing this..'

"Ow..."

Suddenly, I felt a needle like sharp pain pressing my chest.

 **"Arm's of the sun(Solar weaponry)!"**

 **ZZLLRRTTT!**

An explosion of red energy came bursting out of Amaterasu's mirror. Filling the gap between Amaterasu and the pit's bottom in a heartbeat, which was at least a hundred meters, the laser like stream of energy kept going until stopping right before it could penetrate the earth. The bottom part of the energy stream had a sharp triangular point. When Amaterasu lifted the mirror along with the energy stream with ease, I quickly realized the whole energy was a huge blade. It was two times more bigger than Master beetle's already gigantic body. The output of the stream's energy was unbelievable. It felt like I was standing in front of an enormous energy plant. Just feeling it made my body shake like crazy.

'If that's strong as the laser before, Master beetle doesn't stand a chanc'

"Urgh!"

A second wave of pain struck my chest. Except this time it was much more painful than the one before.

"You say something, Itou?"

"N, Nothing..."

I pressed my chest while shaking my head, pretending like it was nothing. I mean, I was able to handle the pain and I had better things to do than alert Chihiri. With no idea what 'this' was, I pressed my chest more harder and hoped this pain would quickly fade like the last one.

Just what is causing this pain?

"I hope this brings you the pain you deserve."

 **"Kekekeke..."**

A low creepy laughter echoed around the pit. It was coming from Master beetle, which sounded weird with it's mouth filled with blood by getting crushed by the intense gravity.

"What could be so funny for you to laugh at this situation?"

 **"Because, I know that you're dying to seek answers, which so happens that I know."**

"There is nothing that I want to know what's in your head. If that's all, say goodbye to this eart"

 **"It's kinda weird that my blade doesn't hurt that much, does it?"**

Amaterasu flinched. At the same time the huge energy blade stopped in it's track, right before it could strike Master beetle's head. With the blade being close to it's face, Master beetle's menacing grin glowed bright red by the energy's light.

"H, How do you know..."

 **"Getting interested, are we? In fact, you were expecting the gut wrenching pain to come, but was a little surprised when it didn't and probably asked yourself, 'why doesn't this hurt when my stomach just lost it's 'first time'?"**

"Is... Is this one of your doings? Answer me! What did you do to me!"

Amaterasu was almost screaming at Master beetle while asking it for explanations. She moved the blade right in front of Master beetle's face and demanded it to talk.

 **SSSZZZZ-**

With a sizzling sound, the blade's enormous energy burned the side of Master beetle's face when it wasn't even touching it. The pain of one's face being cooked like meat, was something I didn't want to even imagine for a second. And yet, Master beetle kept smiling as if it the pain wasn't a problem. Was it enjoying the pain, or something else?

 **"Oh, no no no no no. It's not what 'I've' done. It's what YOU'VE done to yourself. And your precious master."**

"W, What I've done?... That's ridiculous! What could I possibly do to harm myself, or my master?! Do not dare lie to me!"

Growing tired of Master beetle's lies, Amaterasu moved the blade even closer to the bugs face, to the point that it was mere centimeters away from being stabbed. With the blade being close, the heat that was burning Master beetle also rose and part of it's face began to turn black like charcoal.

"Itou, what did that bug say?"

"That... Amaterasu did something to me."

"What, that's bullshit! That bug's just spewing lies out of it's ass! Right, Itou?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, there's no way Amaterasu wouldAAHHKK!"

Without a chance to react, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Out of nowhere, the pain on my chest struck again. Only this time, it was the worst pain I've ever felt in my entire life. The intense pain fried my brain, and I couldn't feel a bit of strength in my body. I collapsed immediately while my hands were buried to my chest.

Breathing was impossible as well as standing still. I squirmed on the ground like a worm, unable to stop as if my body wasn't my own, while gasping for air that I couldn't take in my lungs. Everything in my head turned to black. All I could do was scream out my lungs. Closing my mouth wasn't an option. The loud screams coming out of my mouth were like hands that were trying to open up my jaw so it could come out.

With all my uncontrollable screaming, there was no way that Chihiri and Amaterasu wouldn't notice it.

"Itou! W, What's the matter?! Talk to me!"

"M, Master?... Master!"

 **"Told ya."**

"Y, You bastard! What have you done to my master?!"

 **"How many times do I have to tell you, I'm not responsible for that. Although, I do know what's going to happen next. 3...2..."**

 **"Arrghhh!... Arrggghhhhhhh!"**

My back jumped to the sky as the pain suddenly grew ten folds. That moment, I felt something. Something I shouldn't be feeling. Something that doesn't belong where it should be. Something sharp and hard. Something moving...

 **Inside me...**

 **"1."**

 **Splat-**

I could hear the sound of blood splatter ringing through my eardrums. Fearing the worst, I lifted my head towards Chihiri and Amaterasu. But Chihiri was fine with no wounds on her. And Amaterasu's chest wound was still strangely fine as usual.

However their eyes were shaking, and filled with fear as they were looking at me.

'They're... okay... But then, who is...'

Something warm was dripping down from my torso. My chest was burning hot like I had a bad fever. Then a bone chilling feeling ran down my spine as I realized something. After taking a small gulp, I pressed my hesitation and looked down to face the truth.

"Ah..."

My mind froze when I saw 'it'. A huge gaping wound right in the middle of my chest. It just happened out of nowhere. The injuries I had so far were bruises at best. There was nothing around me that could cause this. I wasn't stabbed or attacked by anything, and yet my chest was opened by itself, with extreme, real life pain of being stabbed.

I felt a faint taste of blood in my mouth, which was followed by the sickening feeling of nausea.

"Ugehh!"

The bitter smell and taste of blood filled my mouth and nose, while I hurled out bucket loads of blood. Every bit of my strength were being drained out of my body. The nonstop pain was getting numb, but it didn't mean good news. It meant my body was shutting down and brought a dark, chilling feeling that I've never felt before, but knew what it was at the same time. The feeling of death.

"N, No... S, Stay with me! Stay with me, you dumbass! K, Keep breathing! Just try to stay awake, you hear me?! Stay awake! Amaterasu! Help him, please!"

Chihiri was shaking my body with all my might to make me stay awake. But I was barely able to feel Chihiri's touch. With my body getting number and number, Chihiri's hands were like fog, that felt like it was going through me rather than touching me.

"T, This isn't happening... Why is master... My job is to keep Master safe and..."

 **"I must say, you really suck at your job."**

"I, It's... standing?!"

Chihiri looked shocked as she saw Master beetle standing tall with it's two feet. There was no way Master beetle was able to overpower Amaterasu's gravity. And there was no way in hell that Amaterasu lost focus and let it go by mistake.

Then what happened? How is it able to stand?

"You... you did that to master! I'll kill you, you wretched bug!"

Amaterasu didn't seem to care if Master beetle was free suddenly from her gravity. All she seemed to care was to chop up Master beetle until it became minced bug meat. She fiercely thrust the gigantic energy blade towards Master beetle's head.

 **Pzzt-**

Only to disappear without a trace. The huge stream of energy that was as big as Master beetle was gone in an instant, like a candlelight being blown out by the wind.

Amaterasu's eyes were shaking, as they were glued to the mirror on her hand. She kept thrusting her hand out front to try again but to no avail. The light that was almost as bright as the sun has faded without a trace. And the mirror that launched devastating attacks which changed the very landscape, was now no more than a useless old relic.

Seeing Amaterasu's meaningless struggle, made Master beetle's smile to stretch all the way to the top of it's cheeks.

 **"Well Well Well, looks like the tables have turned hasn't it?"**

"Kuh!..."

Amaterasu was floating right in front of Master beetle's eyes in a completely helpless state. Without the means to attack Master beetle, she was vulnerable as an ant under a boot.

Master beetle seemed like it'll rip up Amaterasu into tiny pieces any second now. But somehow in the middle of moving it's hand, Master beetle just stood there and retreated it's hand. We didn't know why. It was like Master beetle just suddenly lost all interest of doing so.

 **"Shit, I guess it's too late to do anything. It's a damn 'shame'."**

"What... do you mean by 'shame'?..."

Master beetle clicked it's tongue while saying in a tone filled with hate. It wasn't like Master beetle to show any signs of mercy to anything. We couldn't understand Master beetle's actions.

Until something weird was happening to Amaterasu.

"A, Amaterasu! Y, Your body!"

"My... body?..."

Followed by Chihiri's loud cry, Amaterasu lowered her head to see herself. When she set her eyes to her body, Amaterasu's face was shadowed with shock, confusion, and most of all fear.

"W, What?... What is... happening?..."

Amaterasu's body was starting to fade. We didn't know when it even started, but the process was fast. From her fingertips to her hand, Amaterasu's form quickly became hollow. The sunlight no longer touched Amaterasu's hand, but went through her like a ghost.

I tried feeling Amaterasu's spiritual energy. And sure enough, Amaterasu's energy was quickly drained from her body like water evaporating into air. Seeing Amaterasu long enough made me realize, that her current state looked almost the same as her spiritual form.

 **'Is that... Is that because of me?... That I can't provide her enough energy?'**

It was the most likely answer. If I had the strength left, I wanted to bite down my own tongue. I was the problem. She could've won but lost because of me. If I was more stronger, Amaterasu would've finished Master beetle once and for all. If only I had the guts to not hold her back when it meant the most. But no, I was too weak for that to even happen.

I was... a failure. One that didn't deserve to be called Master by her...

"N, No... If I disappear, Master and Chihiri sama will be..."

 **"Oh, come on! Still playing dumb? I mean, I've been called heartless more times than I can remember, but I at least admit it when I do! Don't tell me you're going soft now, when you made your own master ignore the 'steps'! This is just reaping what you've sow."**

"S, Steps? What... What're you talking about? What steps?!"

 **"What're YOU talking about? The steps that you... Hold on a second."**

The smile on Master beetle's face disappeared. Master beetle slightly tilted it's head while looking dumb founded by Amaterasu's question. Master beetle didn't move or let out a word. It just stared at Amaterasu while keeping it's lips sealed tight.

 **"P, PUHAHAHAHAHA! Now this is rich! This bitch really doesn't know a single thing! I've seen a lot of idiots, but you! You take the cake! AHAHAHAHAHA!"**

"S, Steps?... What is... Explain this now!"

I kept expecting that Master beetle was lying to her. Amaterasu didn't seem like the one who was short on knowledge. There was no way someone could lead a mega cooperation like Oracle think tank if they weren't bright. In fact, from all the things I've heard from her, she was down right a genius.

Compared to that, Master beetle talked and acted no more than a mere thug. Which would be the case, seeing it was from Megacolony. A thug that knows more than a CEO of a successful company, was like hearing a bad joke.

And yet, Amaterasu honestly didn't seem to know what Master beetle was talking about. What in the world was this so called steps about, that was so clear to the likes of Master beetle, and not someone like Amaterasu?

 **"Well I guess I should tell you! As a farewell gift for someone who fabulously kicked their own bucket."**

"Kick... my own bucket?..."

 **"Even your shitty brain would know that we need spiritual energy in order to be materialized. Normally you need to make a pact with a psyqualia user who can provide enough spiritual energy. But as you can see, there ARE other ways if you just use a bit of imagination."**

Master beetle snickered, as if it was bragging about the ways how 'it' got materialized. By milking out spiritual energy from humans like cattle until they were dead. I truly didn't want to believe that an inhuman method existed, and even worked.

"Do not dare call your horrid ways imaginative!"

"Using people like they're disposable batteries? Just how fucked in the head are you to think that's right?!"

 **"Oh, please. Do I look like the type that gives a fuck about ethics? At least know your audience when you talk shit like that."**

Master beetle rolled it's eyes and scoffed, like it was hearing something completely meaningless. Expecting any form of empathy from Master beetle was like trying to talk to a brick wall.

 **"As I was saying. Spiritual energy is the vital key to do anything on this planet. But not all units are required the same amount of energy. The needed energy is differed by the unit's individual strength. And of course, the stronger the unit, the more energy is needed in order to materialize. In our form of cards, I believe our strength is measured by..."**

"Grades..."

 **"Well look at that. Congratulations, you're not an absolute idiot."**

"What? So the card's grade aren't just there for game mechanics?"

Chihiri took out a vanguard card from her pocket and stared at the number written on the top left corner. So that's what it meant. Truth be told, it sounded something what a conspiracy nut would say. A literal power level for beings for beings from outer space? I doubt nobody, not even the makers of the card game would've known about this.

 **"You see, there are grades starting from zero to three. And..."**

"Enough! Those are things that anyone from Cray would know! What is the meaning for saying it again?!"

Amaterasu was furious of Master beetle's blatant explanation. She was extremely anxious about the time she had very little left. Her arms were gone and almost half of her torso have already become hollow. If her fate was to be sealed, Amaterasu was making sure that she would listen to the answer to the very end.

Or it could've been to give us a chance to escape, while she was making Master beetle to keep talking and to make it focus only on her. However we weren't going to go very far with me not being able to even stand.

Master beetle didn't care one bit if Amaterasu was upset or not. Master beetle's shoulders shook as if it was holding in it's laughter. Soon after that, it stared right into Amaterasu's face with a huge grin.

 **"Then you'll also know about the 'side effects' that happens from calling high grade units, hm?"**

"...Eh?... W, What do you... mean... side effects?..."

Hearing Master beetle's words, Amaterasu's fierce attitude was gone like fire being put out by water. Her face turned pale white like she was freezing cold. Master beetle's smile grew bigger knowing Amaterasu was unable to say anything. With nothing to interrupt, Master beetle continued talking.

"G...G...Go..."

I kept pushing Chihiri's arm with very little strength I've got, to at least make her save herself. In my condition right now, I was nothing than dead weight to her, and seeing her die because of me was the last damn thing I wanted. Even though it was clear that Chihiri got the message, she ignored me and acted like she didn't know.

If this was her way of being a good friend, she was going way too overboard. I didn't want to die, but just thinking about Chihiri dying was more painful than all the pain I had to withstand.

 **"Can't talk? And here I thought you knew everything. Very well then, here's a valuable wisdom that you'll take it with your grave."**

Master beetle pointed Amaterasu with the tip of it's jagged arm blade and started to talk. But for some reason, Master beetle's voice suddenly became shaky, like it was freezing from sheer cold. It was either that, or Master beetle just became brain dead.

 **"The... penalty of... calling a grade...3 directly... is... is... is..."**

But then, I saw Master beetle's shoulders shaking more lively than other parts of it's body. I felt like I've seen that reaction before, and then realized what it was.

It was laughter. Specifically muffled laughter, when someone, or something was trying pretend to not laugh.

Master beetle's limit was broken when it continued it's word. With nothing to hold back, Master beetle's maniacal laughter roared loudly like the sound of a thunderbolt.

 **"AHAHAHAHAHA! The penalty of...pu... a direct grade 3 materialization is... wasting almost half of the supporting side's spiritual energy down the drain! And... And... while also... Kaha!... Overcharging the link of both units and pioneer, causing your 'precious' master to suffer the exact pain or damage YOU feel! KUHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

"...Wha...What?..."

Amaterasu's confused words were so quiet it was like mumbling to herself. Her body was trembling like crazy. She didn't talk, or even show any other reactions besides standing still like a statue.

Or rather, Amaterasu seemed to be in so much shock, that it was like the whole concept of 'reaction' had just been erased from her head. It didn't help that her voice was silenced by the loud sound of Master beetle's fists striking down the ground, along with it's roaring laughter.

 **"I, I mean... you have to be a complete idiot to skip the steps and 'override' a grade 3 unit! At first I thought there was a grade 2 unit in hiding, but nope! KHAHAHAHA! Isn't this the best irony, or what?! This dumb bitch won't shut up and says master this, master that! A, And she's... oh my god! THE WHOLE FUCKING REASON WHY HER FUCKING MASTER IS GOING TO DIE! PURE! COMEDY! GOLD!"**

"N, No... It's not true! You're just making this up!"

Amaterasu violently shook her head in denial. Master beetle tried to say something, but it was out of breath from all the laughter. After taking a second to breath, Master beetle scoffed at Amaterasu and started talking.

 **"Pfff. As if. I'll have you know that I practiced a lot to figure that out."**

Master beetle then turned it's head towards Chihiri.

 **"Hey bug. You know anything about accidents happening recently? For example... several missing humans?"**

"Oh my god... D, Don't tell me that's..."

 **"Like I said. A LOT of practice."**

Chihiri took a huge gulp as her face turned white in terror. The missing person's case that sensei was talking about. The constant news on television. That was all happening because of these bugs. The thought of those innocent people, becoming live test subjects to these monsters, sent horrific chills to my body that felt like I was frozen solid.

Amaterasu saw Chihiri's face and realized that Master beetle wasn't lying.

"That means... master is... hurt... because of... me... I did..."

Muttering to herself, Amaterasu looked down at her own two hands. The truth hit Amaterasu more harder than she, or we've thought. Amaterasu slowly turned her head back and looked at me. When she saw me in the state I am, the last bit of light in Amaterasu's eyes vanished. Drops of tears ran down on Amaterasu's beautiful eyes.

Her eyes that sparkled like gems lost it's light it once had. I felt Amaterasu's emotions by looking back at her eyes.

Despair.

Regret.

Fear.

And deep, deep sorrow towards me.

"A...ma...Kupk!.."

"Itou, stop! Your wound's going to spread even more!"

I forcibly opened my mouth to talk. But moving a single muscle caused my wound to leak more blood like a faucet. My chest certainly felt painful. But the thing that was truly killing me from the inside wasn't the wound. The wounds on my chest was only split once. My heart was constantly splitting over and over.

"..ra...su..."

Amaterasu didn't deserve to feel those painful emotions. She wasn't the reason that I was suffering. I wanted. I had to tell Amaterasu that this wasn't her fault. But the shocks from the pain squeezed my lungs and throat over and over. It was near impossible to get out a simple sentence when I had to constantly breathe with all my might, just to not get choked by my own blood which kept rising up from my throat.

Amaterasu's time was up. Her whole body was now transparent like a ghost. Everything below Amaterasu's waist was gone, and the rest of her body was quickly being erased like millions of bugs were eating away at her existence. Standing in front of her, Master beetle was folding it's fingers one by one, while humming happily as it was counting down the seconds that Amaterasu had left.

 **"Don't worry. I'll take goo~~~~d care of those two. We'll have a REAL good time."**

I reached out my hand. I prayed for a power that I didn't have. A power that I didn't even know that was inside me, that could let me stand, fix everything that what was happening. I didn't care what it was. Something... Anything that could stop Amaterasu from disappearing. I cried, cried, cried, cried in my painful head for a miracle.

But no matter how many times I called out for help, I was still a pathetic runt that couldn't even lift himself up from the ground.

My hand was out, but for what? I couldn't catch her from disappearing, or comfort her from all the fear she was feeling. All I could do was barely breathe and watch, until Amaterasu was gone in front of my eyes.

I was helpless.

"Master... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm"

 **"Buh bye~"**

When Master beetle folded it's last finger, Amaterasu's form vanished without a trace. The little bit of hope that I believed in even to the end. Just maybe. Just maybe that Amaterasu might not disappear, came crashing down on my head like a tower of cards.

"Amaterasu... She, she can't be gone..."

Devastated, Chihiri kept looking at the place where Amaterasu was. For me, I didn't know what to think or what to believe. Even, know everything seemed to be a bad dream. Or at least that was what I dearly hoped right now. However, it didn't take long for reality to put us back in our place.

 **"Now, now, now... What should I..uh... do with my favorite..ah... duo?"**

With Amaterasu gone, there was nothing stopping Master beetle from doing what it desired. We were under Amaterasu's protection this whole time, that we forgot just how terrifying it was to stand against an unwinnable foe. With nothing to fear, Master beetle with a grinning smile on it's face, turned it's body towards us and stepped forward. At the same time, it reached out it's hand that quickly shadowed us from above.

The hands were big as huge circus tents. Even if we started to run now, we wouldn't be even close from escaping the hand's radius. There was no telling what those hands would do to us, if it didn't squash and kill us in a blink of an eye.

"Fast? Slow? Painful? Oh, so much to choos"

 **RIP!**

The first thing to reach my ears was a grotesque ripping sound. I thought I've died so fast that I didn't even notice it, but that wasn't the case. The noise came from Master beetle's direction. After taking one step, the giant bug suddenly lost it's balance and fell forward into the pit. We were about to be squashed by Master beetle's hand, but due to it's body falling down the hand barely missed us and went over our heads, smashing the street right next to us instead. The hand's fingers sunk deep into the concrete as it was trying to grab on. But eventually the fingers were quickly pulled back by Master beetle's tremendous weight and was dragged into the pit.

 **"AHHHHH! FUCK! FUCK! WHY THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT HAPPENING TO ME?!"**

Master beetle's curses roared inside the pit. Along with it's anger and hatred, Master beetle's voice sounded like it was in pain. I didn't know what happened, but it was wise to not stay here and figure it out. Not that I was able to do that in my condition.

"Alright, now's our chance! Ugh! Up and at em! We gotta run as far as we can before it gets out that pit!"

Chihiri moved hastily. She grabbed my arm with both hands and pulled me up from the ground. While pulling me up, she looked back and forward to me and the pit to check on Master beetle. After that, Chihriri hung my arm onto her shoulder and walked while supporting my body weight.

Due to my weak condition, Chihiri was basically dragging my body all by herself. Even if we were running non stop right now, I wasn't even sure if we were able to outrun from Master beetle's sight. Chihiri was doing the best she can, but with me being dead weight we were moving no faster than snails.

"C..hi..."

"I said stop talking! If we just... find a good place... to hide, Master beetle will just go past us! We're... going to make it! You know that I don't... give up on things that matter to me! So... shut up and stay awake!"

Chihiri said it with confident smile on her face, but her breathing was too heavy to fool me. Drops of sweat was dripping from Chihiri's cheeks, and her movement was getting slower and slower compared to when she started to carry me.

Part of me was touched that Chihiri hadn't given up in me. However, she wasn't going to make it while carrying me. It was a cruel answer, but it was the truth. I knew it, and she knew it.

"As long as Master beetle's screaming in that pit, we have a chance"

 **BOOOOOM!**

With a huge boom, a sudden earthquake stopped us right at our tracks. We lost balance and right before we hit the ground, our bodies were blown back by a huge gust of wind and dust.

"Arrgh!..."

"Ah!"

A sharp pain hit my back when I tumbled on to the ground. My body leaped barely a meter off the ground, but my backbone already felt like it was going to split in two. Not only did my body get weak to the point of not being able to move, the pain that I was feeling got amplified as well.

The gray dust cloud that came with the wind, thickly covered the area around us. I couldn't tell what just happened, or what was going on.

"Itou! Oh thank god you're still breathing..."

Despite us being blown away, Chihiri landed right next to me. It was probably thanks to her grabbing my arm with a firm grip. I was relieved to see her without any new injuries. Chihiri also checked me out to see if I was hurt, and she let out a relaxed sigh to see I was fine.

The fading sunlight penetrated through the fading dust cloud. We were able to see things again, as the dust cloud was fading away pretty quickly. Now that we can see where we're going, Chihiri grabbed and pulled my arms to lift me up again.

"All right, Itou! Get ready to move again so hang in there!"

 **"Where do you think you're going?"**

"Wha..."

When the dust finally cleared, Master beetle's face appeared right in front of us. Huge drops of black blood was dripping from it's torn up face. We were looking at Master beetle's face dead on, because it wasn't standing.

Or rather, was 'unable' to stand.

"T, The legs are..."

 **"Not much to see, is there? IS THERE?!"**

Both of Master beetle's legs were gone. It wasn't cut with a knife or something, but brutally ripped off. The part that was left was Master beetle's upper thigh. Below that was a smashed endoskeleton surrounding a butchered mess of flesh and muscles. Fountains of black blood was flooding out from the ripped out wound at least five times more than it's face.

 **"Ugh!... I just take one step, and my legs get chopped off?! That fucking bitch, with her goddamn laser! How the hell did it sever my legs without me even knowing it?!"**

'So that's the reason why Master beetle was screaming in the pit...'

"W, Wow. Talk about a counterattack..."

Even after she was gone, Amaterasu was able to land a last blow to Master beetle.

But how was it 'here'? Without it's legs, there was no way that it was able to get out of that pit. It didn't even come at us from the ground, like when it hid from Amaterasu's laser. The dust cloud just now was Master beetle's doing. To do that, it had to fall from the sky. Not to mention, from a very considerable height like a meteor.

"How the hell did you get out of that hole?!"

Chihiri asked the question that I was unable to do.

 **"Gravity manipulation has multiple uses other than squashing fools. Although, never thought there would be a day that I'd launch myself with it."**

Even without it's legs, Master beetle was still able to move.

'This is bad...'

Master beetle was stubborn as all hell. Every time it seemed to be over, Master beetle kept on standing up to block our path. In this case, it was quite literal. We couldn't move forward, or anywhere with it's giant body blocking the path.

Three of Master beetle's limbs were severed from it's body, with only it's right arm remaining. It was a miracle that Master beetle was still alive. At this point, it was a breathing hunk of meat. However, that hunk of meat was still able to crush us like it was nothing. With nowhere to run, we were standing right in the middle of it's anger filled gaze.

 **"You know what? Fuck this. Fuck ALL of this! I'm getting nothing but shit luck today, and all of that is happening because I'm fighting you two fuckers. So fuck it. I don't fucking care about any pioneers anymore. All I want now, is seeing you two bugs turn into bloody stains on my hand."**

Master beetle temper was out of control. It forgot, or rather didn't care anymore about it's purpose. Finding a pioneer wasn't it's goal anymore, but to kill us as painfully as possible. Without any hesitation, Master beetle raised it's one arm. The arm alone covered us in a thick shadow. The jagged blade on it's arm shined, as it reflected the fading sunlight.

"R...u...n..."

I pushed, pushed, and kept pushing Chihiri's arm. Telling her, begging her to leave me. If she didn't run now, Master beetle's blade was going to squash her body along with me. Flesh, bones, intestines, every part of us were going to turn into unrecognizable mush. Even after that, Master beetle will keep on pounding down our remains with it's hand like a madman, until there was nothing left of us.

That was going to happen. Since that is the vision I'm seeing.

But if Chihiri moves right now, she could avoid that. She could even get a chance to run away, when Master beetle was too busy breaking every part of my body.

"So this is it... I'm going to..."

Even when I'm saying Chihiri to go, truth be told I was scared out of my mind right now. All my life was ahead of me, and I was going to die here just because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But not Chihiri, Chihiri had nothing to do with this fight. She deserved her full life. And I'm sure she'll find another friend better than me.

Just like she 'saved' me, this time it was my turn to save Chihiri. Make her realize that she'll survive if she leaves me here. I kept pushing until something stopped me.

"I'm your friend, man. And friends don't leave their friends alone. I ain't leaving you even if it kills me!"

Chihiri held on to my hand with a tight grip. No matter what I do, Chihiri made up her mind to stay with me. She stood up in front of me, spreading her arms and legs while glaring at Master beetle.

"You're gonna have to go through me, you son of a bitch! I'm not gonna let you lay a finger on him, you hear me?!"

 **"Arrogant piece of!... Fine, THEN FUCKING DIE!"**

Master beetle's blade came rushing down at us. Our bodies were pressed by tons of air made by Master beetle's arm. There was nothing left to do but wait for the inevitable. Even in the brink of death, Chihiri didn't move a single step away from where she stood. I couldn't bare to watch. I closed my eyes as the shadow grew darker and darker at every passing millisecond.

And I waited, for my life's clock to stop.

* * *

 **Well, crap. Looks like I'm going to take the award for worst writer ever. I got nothing to say but sorry. Like reeeaaaallllyyy sorry.**

 **Anyways, there it is. The super dickish monster that's called Master beetle! The crime organization, Megacolony's gonna eat you up!**

 **Wait, why am I saying this?**

 **BTW: Would really appreciate comments. Like, REALLY... So lonely!**


End file.
